Chapter 4 - The Shape of Water

"Please pardon my disturbance, but Elder Aira you've been requested to return to the courtyard of the six." Kenzo announced as he appeared on a path behind us.

"Requested by whom?" Elder Aira questioned.

"Elder Mildred."

Sigh. "This is where I'll leave you for today Kaden." She said as Mai helped her to her feet. "Mai remember what I asked of you when we were coming here."

"Yes Elder Aira, I'll try my best."

"Some things just won't change I guess." Aira replied hanging her head. "Take care of them sister."

"Of course I will." Treya replied with a grin.

Aira walked over to Kenzo and whispered something to him before they both walked down the path together.

"Tell me young man, are you familiar with the seven sins?"

"You mean pride, lust, envy and so on right?" Kaden replied.

"Good so you are familiar with them. To return to your home world you are going to have to confront these sins head on. In a very literal sense.

"You mean the gates Elder Treya?" Mai asked.

"Yes baby. In this world the seven sins each have a corresponding gateway somewhere in the four great lands. Here in the land of water you can find the gates of greed and pride. The land of fire is home to the gate of gluttony. In the land of air you will find the gates of sloth and lust. Then lastly the gate of wrath can be found in the land of stone."

"Finally? What about the gate of envy?" Kaden asked.

"That's the only one that nobody knows for sure where it is. However it is said that once completing a gate you will be pointed in the direction of the next closest gate. So if you complete the first six you will eventually be pointed towards the gate of envy."

"That means he's going to have to travel to all of the lands sometime soon." Mai pointed out.

"Could I hire an escort or something, because me going out there alone is just gonna get me killed. Again."

"That's further down the line young man. For now we're going to help you get prepared for the journey ahead of you. You were asleep when I said this but you are capable of using water essence."

"So I can move water and do the stuff you were doing earlier Maira?" Kaden asked enthusiastically.

"Don't call me that, but yes you're right." She responded.

"Not only that, but we also found traces of all four of the elemental essences flowing inside of you."

"For real? So I'm like 'The Avatar'?" Kaden asked with a large smile on his face.

"I do not know what that is." Treya replied.

"That's alright. How often does something like this happen?"

"It's really unheard of." Mai responded. "There has been cases of a child being born from parents from two different great lands, and that child goes on to inherit both essences of his mother and father. However even that is rare. Something like this is like I said, unheard of."

"If you would like young man, we came to the conclusion that we should train you to use water essence for a period of time that you would like, before you leave for your journey."

"I would appreciate that, but is it really possible for me to use this essence stuff."

"That's the reason we came out here." Treya replied.

"This pond is where I practiced my control of water essence when I was growing up." Mai stated. "This is also where I'm going to train you to control it yourself."

"You're gonna train me?"

"Elder Treya has more important matters to tend to around the village. There isn't many people that know of your presence in the village so your only option is me."

"Your talking as if I wouldn't want you to teach me. Or maybe it's you that doesn't want to teach me."

"I can think of better ways to spend my time."

"Ouch."

"You kids have fun now." Treya said while laughing.

She made her way over to the same path Elder Aira left on moments ago and stopped at the start.

"If you two are going to travel elsewhere in the village, have him see Tez for new clothes Mai. We don't want to concern anyone else."

"Yes mam." Mai replied.

With that Elder Treya took her leave.

"Well, let's begin."

"Any chance I could get some food before we start?" Kaden asked.

"You'll get to eat afterwards. Now stand."

.....

"Good day sisters." Elder Aira said as she entered the courtyard.

"Is Treya not with you?" One of the other two ladies asked that we're waiting.

"She is currently informing our special guest of his unique circumstances." Aira replied as she took her seat.

"Special guest?"

"Yes sister Mildred. A lost spirit has appeared in Aestus."

"That was the anomaly I sensed with Mai?" The other lady asked.

"Yes that was him sister Faye. He just arrived in this realm a few hours ago."

"What have you decided to do with him?" Mildred asked.

"He's decided that he wants to undergo the trials of the seven sins to return to his home world. Before that though, I've let Mai and one of the royal guards oversee his training to master the use of water essence."

"It's been a long time since the appearance of the last lost spirit." Faye stated. "Nobody knows what ever happened to that one."

"Aira, how long do you intend to have him stay in the village?" Mildred asked.

"Until I believe he's capable of handling himself in the wildlands."

...

"Is there an issue Sister Mildred?"

"We're now well into the autumn season and there's been signs of Arashi activity."

"It's pretty early in the season for that now isn't it?" Aira asked. "We shouldn't have any problems dealing with those that stray too close to the village if you're concerned about that."

"That wasn't the main reason we asked for you to come here." Faye stated.

"Of course it isn't."

"The 16th King of Ignus has been killed." Mildred Stated.

Elder Aira turned to her with a look of shock plastered on her face.

"How long?" Aira asked.

"Two months now. It took a while for the news to travel this far. I don't have all the details, but it seems he was murdered by his own son who was leading a coup d'etat." Mildred answered.

"There may have been people in the land who thought the old king was too hesitant to use his authority." Faye stated.

"He has been much more quiet in these past few years." Aira said. "...Sister Treya should be joining us soon. Let's wait for the others to join us before we continue this discussion."

.....

"Tell me stranger, what's the shape of water." Mai asked.

"Your calling me stranger on purpose now." Kaden replied as he stood ankle deep in the pond. "And what kind of question is that? Water doesn't have a shape."

As he answered, Kaden was greeted by a splash of water in his face.

"Rude."

"In order to gain control over water essence you must focus on the shape of water."

"And I'm telling you water doesn't have a definite shape." He exclaimed.

He was then splashed by water again as Mai began to guide a stream of water around the both of them.

"You're partially right. Water itself has no definite shape yes, but it does have the ability to take the shape of any container that it fills."

As Mai said that she separated the stream of water into three balls. One of which took the shape of a cube, the other a pyramid and the last one stayed a ball.

"In this practice, you are the container. The water will take shape of what you decide but you must be very precise. Of the four elements, it's said that water essence takes the most focus and precision to use. If your spirit is not perfectly interwoven with the water essence within you, then the water you try to move will ripple and fall apart."

She brought the three water shapes together again and formed three small streams that wove within each other without colliding.

"That's amazing." Kaden said with a big smile.

Mai stopped and dropped the water back into the pond.

"Anyway. Before I have you move water, I'm going to teach you how to bring water essence out of your own body."

"Like how you did with that bow and arrow earlier?"

"Yes, that was life essence though. Usually you would be taught how to use that first but you don't have any. Life essence can be used to heal physical damage to the body and the essence itself can be used to deal spiritual damage."

"Wait you were gonna attack my soul?"

"If you use a large amount of life essence in a short period of time you'll end up collapsing. That doesn't concern you though. With the other elemental essences though, it takes time for it to restore in your body after using a lot."

"So there's a limit to how much we can expend at a time." Kaden said.

"So what you're going to do first is sit on this sand stump." Mai ordered. "You're going to meditate to the sound of the flowing water until you can outline the water essence in your own body and release it."

"This sounds boring." Kaden stated as he sat with his legs folded on the sand stump.

"Close your eyes and envision the water essence flowing through you like a river."

Kaden took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. He sat there in complete silence as he tried to visualize himself moving water the same way Mai does. He sat there for just five minutes before he thought...

This is boring. Is she still even here? She hasn't said anything since I've closed my eyes. Why do I even need this? It's not like I can still use essence when I get back to my world. Or... can I? Nah, if it was possible someone would've found out about it already.

"Hey Maira, how long before you usually start to feel anything." Kaden asked.

"It's different for everyone, for some it's a day and others a month." A male voice replied.

"Mmm... Maira, your morning voice came out for a second there." Kaden responded.

"I would splash you but I don't want you to lose focus." Mai said from behind him.

...

Kaden casually opened his eyes to inspect the male voice he heard, and found Kenzo standing directly ahead of him on the outside of the pond. He then peered behind himself at Mai who was stood on the other side of the pond.

"You bored or somethin'?" Kaden asked looking back at Kenzo.

"I will also be overseeing your training for the time you're here." Kenzo responded.

"What for?"

"Miss Aira will be teaching you the basics, while I will be guiding what you learn into actual combat."

"But isn't Mai skilled enough to help me with that by herself?"

"Kaden just go along with it." Mai said. "He's one of the royal guards and is well experienced in the field."

"So what if he is, I've seen just a little of what you can do and I think it's fine with just you teaching me."

"Ka-"

Before Mai could barely start talking, Kenzo pulled some water out of the pond and brought it directly in front of him. He tapped the side of the water and it all instantaneously froze into the shape of a sword. The sword was about arms length and could fit perfectly in the holder on his waste.

"You still think I'm not capable?" He asked pointing the sword at Kaden. "I shouldn't even have to prove myself to someone like you."

"I never asked you to prove anything and I never questioned if you're capable. I couldn't care less if you are or not. What I'm saying is I don't need you if I already have Mai in my corner."

"Kaden, that's enough." Mai said softly. "Accept the extra help."

She looks upset. Kaden thought. I've only said good things about her so why is she upset. Whatever, it's not worth getting worked up over.

"Fine. Let me get back to my meditation."

Kenzo's ice blade melted back into the pond as Kaden continued his meditation. Two hours went by of nothing happening and soon enough, Mai decided to end today's session.

"We started late, so I wasn't intending on letting this first session carry on for long." Mai stated.

"I almost fell asleep three times." Kaden said as he laid flat on his back. "Can we get some food now?"

"Before that, Elder Treya asked me to escort you to Tez for new clothes. Thank you for your time today Kenzo. We'll start again early tomorrow morning."

"No thanks needed Miss Aira, it's my pleasure to assist you."

"No words of advice." Kaden said to Kenzo who began walking away.

"...Don't trouble Miss Aira during the time you'll be here." Kenzo replied in a stern voice before leaving.

Sounds more like a warning rather than advice. Kaden thought.

"Let's go stranger, I'll show you around the village for a bit." Mai said.

"You called me by my name earlier yanno."

"Did I? I don't recall."

Mai opened up a pathway through the pond for Kaden to walk through, and then they both walked towards a different pathway than the one Kenzo left on.

"Kad...en."

Kaden spun around to the sound of a ghostly voice calling out to him. However he didn't see anything besides the empty pond they were departing from.

"Something wrong?" Mai asked.

"...No, everything's fine."

That voice, sounded a bit like Aaron.