[Set in Stone] Chapter 2 - What is power if it is not your own?

Tied to life a thousand times to see this brittle world shatter.

••

The soft crunch of snow under my feet and the shifting of fabric were all I could hear. The clouds were incomparably darker than earlier, of which they were now nearly entirely black. 

Wowie. Look, it's my house. 

A seemingly normal, western styled house sits alone in the frozen wasteland of the Decay. It is constructed nearly entirely out of stone, and it has no windows, as if I could find a perfectly intact glass pane. I just go OUTSIDE if I want to look at this miserable wasteland. There's also a long table outside with six stone chairs alongside it. I don't know why I constructed it, but I guess spending a year and a half alone in a place with the shittiest colour palette possible takes a toll on my mind. Even if it's my mental we're talking about. 

Like, at least the monsters have different colouring. My Stone Guardian abilities match the white and black colour schemes of the entire Decay. It's not something flashy like lightning and nor ignition, so I don't even get a light source of any kind. My soul colour is gray-turned-black, so my Stone naturally shifted alongside it. Soul colour isn't supposed to change, but the Decay works wonders… and catastrophes. 

My stone could have been blue or a glistening green— never mind those are weird… But I got dark gray… or just black… It doesn't shine or produce light, it's just gray. My only flashy guardian abilities are shifting and blood fusion. Blood fusion makes me pass out after every usage though~…

Eehhh… I've been ranting too long, how does my Stone Guardian powers work any? And what's the context behind my situation, or the condition of Entoria in general? I'll share all I know at the moment, starting with Entoria.

••

Four years ago, it was like any other day. As it was June, school had just ended for some kids. Some uni and college kids were planning their vacation times over the summer. I had been sitting on a bench in some random park.

Then, at noon of said day, dark clouds rolled over the skies over Entoria. 

It seemed just like any other day. Most people thought that it was mere rainclouds, possibly with thunder. 

I was no different. Even as an awakened individual at the time, my carefree nature had hindered my doubts into not even considering the slightest bit of danger. 

I had begun walking to where I was staying at the time when those clouds completely covered the sky. Others had noticed it too, and made the same decision. Some people started to speed up, while others took cover in public infrastructure. 

Then… it began to snow. 

Not rain, not thunder, snow

The wind picked up, snow fell from those dark clouds which were nearly black. It was a snowstorm in the midst of summer. I paid no heed to this, and continued walking to my destination. The ambient air temperature had begun to rapidly descend. Snow that touched the floor melted instantly. 

A single high-pitched shriek captured my attention. I turned my head back for the first time, finally realizing that this 'event' was possibly worth my attention. Only then did the gears in my head start spinning. 

I was alone.

And a grotesque frog-like monster leapt at me.

That was the first appearance of the 'Folatr's', the trademark monster of Decayed Entoria.

Those same monsters ( and others ) would wipe out 98% of Entoria's population within a single year.

During that time, the survivors had begun to undergo Awakenings, 

I myself was one of these people who managed to awaken this so-called 'Origination' even before Entoria Decayed. Due to it being a recent discovery, the concept itself lacked information. As such, the people of Decayed Entoria had to discover the capabilities and limitations surrounding the power, while also struggling with survival.

As to why we didn't just leave the nation…

The Boundless Barrier. 

What once made Entoria the safest nation in our Asylum.

An invisible barrier made to defend the nation from the onslaught of foreign bioweapons, especially during a WW3 type scenario.

While I have no idea how it exists, it works. The barrier encompasses every millimeter of the country's borders whilst extending out into the sea all the way to the south of island province Quoi Passé. 

I would have just torn the barrier in two if it weren't for the fact that it negates any form of Soul Manipulation, and is physically resistant too.

The Barrier was so.. eerie, the last time I saw. It looked like how light contorts in extreme heat . Before the Decay happened, people simply accepted that the Barrier functioned. But the more I learn the secrets about this world, the more the Barrier confuses me.

That's a brief summary of the situation here in Entoria. But what piqued your interest probably isn't the history, but the ability to cast our souls upon the world.

Origination is the ability to cast our souls into reality. It was widespread in ancient times, but faded into obscurity, turning into mere fairytales until those six years ago. 

As of now, most ancient information about Origination was lost in the Isle of Storm 'Downfall Virus Outbreak', and the 'Red Death' of the U.B.P.

To elaborate, Originators need two different things to operate, their Soul and Spirit. 'Soul' and 'Spirit' are two different things. Spirit is like mana, it's the energy we Originators use to impose and imbue our soul into reality. Soul is predictably our soul, or core. It produces, stores, and articulates spirit.

Spirit is also a form of life force or vitality, so it has to be maintained alongside the body. Spirit gradually recharges overtime, though people do have different regeneration rates. 

As for the logic behind Origination, there isn't conclusive research on the topic. But it seems like we summon our Soul into the real world to use it as listed below.

The way Originators can summon their spirit are generally split into two categories. There are; "Imposement", and "Imbuement". 

The first is 'Spirit Imposement', the ability to impose one's soul onto the world. This group of Originators, contrary to Imbuement, are capable of releasing their spirit from their bodies. This makes them capable of techniques such as Løslatelse and Armour. Our primary fighting style would be something close to using arcane, blasting off energy blasts. Think of us like mages.

Imposed Spirit looks like a glowing energy in Soul Colour.

Imposement types are capable of becoming Guardian's by finding and Soul Binding themselves with a Guardian Core. 

My personal and unique imposition is—… 

Nevermind.

I'm saving it for when I encounter that imposter again.

The second is 'Spirit Imbuement', the ability to imbue one's soul into physical matter. This group of Originators, contrary to Imposement, are capable of making their spirit flow through physical matter. This grants them the ability to use techniques such as Strengthening and Uknuselig. Their primary fighting style is to augment their own body so that they can fight hand-to-hand. Think of them like swordsmen.

Imbuement makes objects have a glowing vein or thunder-like appearance in Soul Colour.

Imbuement types are capable of becoming Wielders by finding and Soul Binding with a Spirit Catalyst weapon.

Now back to me. 

I'm an Imposement type caster turned Guardian. My guardian ability is to summon and manipulate stone, with the added ability of being able to shift positions between my creations. 

First of all, Stone Summoning. 

It's self explanatory. I can summon stone and choose its size depending on how much spirit I channel into the ability. I can't summon the stone more than a fingers-length away from me, and I need empty space to summon it, so I can't summon stone inside objects. 

Second of all, Manipulation. 

This one needs a little explanation. Basically, I can manipulate the shape of the stone I summon into whatever I want. Shaping it slowly leads to two different stone durabilities. If I mold it quickly, it will have the stone's normal hardness and brittleness. If I take my time, the stone will be of higher quality. It will be glossier, harder, less brittle and more angular. 

My stone is spirit conductive, and I believe that's how I can manipulate it.

To note, I can only manipulate one stone at a time no matter the size. 

The second part of my stone manipulation is telekinesis. 

I am able to telekinetically manipulate my summons, much like how ESPers use telekinesis. There is no limit to how many stones I can telekinetically control. 

Third and last but not least, Shifting. 

I can shift my physical position between any of the stones I have summoned. In other words, teleportation. The spirit consumption is minimal up until about 1 km of distance, where there's a major bump in spirit consumption. It's a constant, not a change in scaling so it's not problematic.

There are a few other important things to mention. One such extra is "Memory Command" and another is "Artifact Creation."

Memory Command is when you have used your spirit in the same way so many times that it is engraved onto your soul.

While it normally takes a bit of time to articulate your spirit, Memory Command makes it instinctual. Just give it a name when in progress, and you'll instinctually cast it when the command comes to mind.

It's basically my moveset. 

These Memory Commands are the building blocks of Artifacts. 

Artifact Creation is the process of creating a spirit imbued item. 

Artifacts are created by messing up a Memory Command and condensing the released spirit into a spirit conducting object. It's basically impossible to shape it, so I usually use some kind of mold, like condensing it around a stone ring or charm. These artifacts contain the Memory Command itself, so when spirit is passed through, it causes the activation of said Command. 

Protector and Guardian Artifacts are, while not much different at first glance, completely different. While a Protector Artifact may be given a memory command, Guardian Artifacts allow the user to harness a Guardian's power, usually with a cooldown and activation requirement. Protector Artifacts have the advantage of reliability, while Guardian Artifacts have the advantage of power and versatility. 

An example of a Protector artifact would be Maria's Wolf Rune, with the activation simply being 'Arise', its only limitation being Soul formation and Spirit reserves. While a Guardian artifact like Hiro's Ignition Bracelet is activated by a snap of the finger, has a lengthy cooldown, scales by willpower, is hard to control and can easily injure an inexperienced user. 

I used to burn my hand when I set my sword ablaze, but at some point I learned how to phase the flame through my blade. As if I was intertwining strings together. 

If an artifact is damaged, some parts of its normal capabilities will decrease.

Oh, and about the difference between Guardian souls and normal souls– is that they're two different souls. A person becomes a Guardian by Soul Binding and overpowering the Soul inside the core. There are no known repercussions of obtaining the power, aside from the risks of binding with another Core.

Since Guardian cores need to be manually binded, one can carry one or several at once. It's how I can carry the Wrath Core on hand.

Soul Colour is predetermined, which dictates your soul, rarely hair and in even rarer cases eye colour. Soul colour is completely unique to each individual, with no two identical souls. Though there can be similarities, as there aren't exactly new colours, so some souls may appear to have the same colour. To know one's soul colour, the individual either has their hair dyed their soul colour, or have some sort of Originator-esque abilities. However, some Soul colours don't exist, such as black and white. Apparently I'm an exception to this. I have and have always had black and white gradients ( ??? ) ( it's not gray i swear ) as my soul colour.

The very colours that are not meant to exist within the soul colour spectrum.

That's about the only cosmetic feature that matters to the power system. Since my SC is special, it may hold other secrets, but I've never been able to figure that out.

That's why I've cooperated with certain trusted people to uncover the metrics behind our power, so that we can defeat that… 'Moribund Monarch' one day.

••

Decayed Entoria is really dark. Not just metaphorically, but physically dark. The sky is always near black, but the white snow makes things slightly more visible. 

Lifting my head up to the sky, I notice that it is as dark as always. The dark-gray and black clouds contrast each other heavily, with each dark cloud remaining separated. The outlines of each cloud contrast and cover each other, forever blocking the sun from shining down on Entoria.

Since it was much warmer than normal that day, I had walked home instead of warping. The crunching sounds of snow under my feet and wisping of the wind in my ears are all that I hear treading through the desolate winter cold. 

The faint outline of my house in the distance slowly gets bigger. It's the familiar sight of home that I see everyday. While not particularly special, it's the only place I can consider myself safe; alone in my house. 

When I reach where a front door would normally be, there is instead a stone wall, of which I dismantle and enter through. Walking through the stone doorway, I take off my boots, right then left, before holding them outside and smacking them against each other to shake off any snow before placing them on the floor beside the entrance. 

Before taking off my coat, I replace the previously dismantled stone wall and hang my coat on a hook on said wall before walking over to my fireplace. 

The fireplace right here is my house's source of warmth and light. The ignition bracelet doesn't exactly do anything when I stop sending spirit through it. So when I get home, I start a fire. I usually burn inedible monster parts for the fire, because naturally occuring dry-wood is nonexistent here. 

Wait a minute… I burn monster corpses. Why didn't I?— 

Damn... 

I left the Reaper corpse behind. 

…I guess I was still on the gas. I'll just go get it tomorrow. 

Having a vague plan set for tomorrow, I'll just eat and go to sleep now. I was going to work around some of my house's systems but I can save it for another day.

Putting these useless thoughts aside, I grab a piece of wood grown with my Nature guardian artifact and throw it into the fireplace. With my left index finger pointed at it, I snap with my right hand and a beam of fire shoots out of my finger, setting the wood ablaze.. I then form a stone cage around it, so that I don't accidentally trip and fall into the fire pit again. 

After which, I walk over and stumble into the singular red sofa chair a little distance away from the fireplace, enough for the warmth of the fire but not for the heat. The fire and its surroundings cast a heavy shadow, accentuated by the very same cage I had built to cover it. It's my only source of light during darker days and even darker nights.

After making myself comfortable in said chair, I sit and stare at the fire. As I listen to its occasional crackle of the fire, I rest my head against my fist, being put at total ease. 

The fire and its warmth are hypnotizing, as I slowly and silently doze off into sleep.