'Shatter his mind, was that even possible?' Hal found himself in a terrible fright as the meaning of Joset's words flooded his mind, but yet again, the people in this world could literally expand their minds, so was it really that unexpected?
"What do you mean you are going to teach me how to shatter my mind?" Joset spared him a glance as her crimson eyes stared at him intently.
"It's because of your gift", Hal stared blankly at Joset, signalling to her that he had understood nothing, and so she continued.
"Well, most gifts don't need you to shatter your mind because there is only one source of information, and that's your normal senses"
Joset lifted a few strings that illustrated a person with their major sensory organs before continuing to say
"But for people like us, there is more than one source flooding our mind with information, hence we need more minds to process the extra information, hence shattering the one we have"
Joset's strings shifted, showing a person screaming in pain as others showed strings that had folded to show information flowing to the man, and then they shifted again to show the man happy with different minds around him.
Hal found the little illustrations quite entertaining as he thought about their meaning.
'So some gifts need you to shatter your mind in order to generate miniature minds that can process the extra information your mind generates' Joset sighed, bringing Hal's attention back to her as she said
"But there is a disadvantage that could arise, when your mind is shattered, it also shatters your conscious, and so each mind can generally become its own individual thinking independently from the original and most of the time it can be confusing since to each piece, they are the original"
Hal felt a shiver run down his spine as he spoke in a shaky voice, "So since each thinks they're then they will most likely try to bring the others in to their control, causing chaos, but that kind of sounds like-"
"Madness", Joset's voice finished the sentence for him as she continued
"But this can be avoided by using your will to restrict the development of the individual mind's own consciousness and will, and if one or two escape that, then you can just bind them to one of the several marks your gift creates. Want to see an example?"
Once again, Hal's curiosity got the better of him as he quickly nodded to the proposal. Joset smiled for the first time since the first time she met, as several teddy bears suddenly stood up and headed their way.
One of them, a teddy bear with pink fur wearing a cute red bow, jumped onto her lap and waved at Hal, who was too scared to wave back himself.
"You know how ability lets me control strings, well, each string can only be controlled by one mind, that's why I needed to shatter my mind as well, but when I was a kid, I created a lot of these guys since I was inexperienced"
Joset gripped the teddy bear in her arms with a lot of love in her eyes, saying.
"And as you see them here, each one of them is made of one string but able to have their own individual thoughts, though I can sometimes hear them. This one here is Magrette, and she says hi"
Hal thought it best to greet the teddy bear as all the others who seemed to be very fond of him all waved in his direction, forcing him to have to greet every single one, and by the end of it, he had lost all the curiosity he had
After the ordeal, it now became his turn to be taught the art of shattering the mind, as once again he was asked to feel for the presence of the strings that were wrapped around his hand.
He calmed himself and soon found himself staring at his soul once more. The flame that covered his soul seemed to be burning more intensely than it did last time.
And since the soul kept on producing it naturally, Hal did not freak out this time, though the sight of being burned by a spiritual fire still looked unsettling.
Joset's voice echoed in his eyes as he heard her say, "I believe you can now muster your will, so I want you to use it to shatter your mind. This should be the easy mind, just visualise something shattering"
Hal focused and decided to visualise glass breaking in order to help him carry out this task, and as soon as the image went through his mind, everything shattered, or at least his mind did
The feeling was weird; he felt like he was in multiple places at once, but the point where most of the shattered pieces converged was around him and the mirror, which had caused him such a head-splitting headache last time.
But at that very moment he all his thoughts blurred as if all the pieces were suddenly trying to restrict him and take on their own identities.
A feat took root in Hal's heart as Joset spoke to him, "I want you to listen to me, don't let them take over you, you are the dominating mind, and you have to assert that control over the others or else"
Hal knew what the consequences would be if he failed here, but the collective effort of all the several pieces to break away from him soon overpowered him.
But before he lost control of his shattered mind, he felt the tug of strings bring the pieces all back together and converge them once again into one mind.
Hal fell over as his entire body trembled from the experience "Well, it seems we can't continue with you in this state, so you are free to go for now"
Hal looked up at Joset as he struggled to stop his body from trembling. He dreaded the experience, but found himself fearing something worse: the fact that he would have to face this hell again.
***
Hal was now in the compound behind the company building with Hal and after his previous experience, the harsh physical training he was about to experience seemed like a breeze.
Tai seemed to have recovered from last night's experience as he wore a big smile on his face "Hey Hal, are you going to attack me or are you chicken?"
Hal's face twisted into a frown as he gripped his dagger tightly in his hands. He passed it from hand to hand before finally positioning himself for battle.
"Why would I be scared of your ass? Bring it on, Tai" The young swordsman smiled and dashed forward to Hal, who did the same.
The two boys met in the middle and exchanged their first blows, blade sliding against blade as the two boys struggled to overpower each other.
Of course, Tai was holding back, but Hal did not care as long as he got to beat the arrogant swordsman. He suddenly pulled back, causing Tai to stumble, though the effect did not last long as he quickly regained his footing.
But that created space for Hal to strike down at Tai, who blocked his attack before pushing him back, sending Hal tumbling backwards.
He stabilised, but Tai was already upon him, ready to cleave him in two. He drove his blade down, causing Hal to fall to the ground as Tai's blade stopped short from actually splitting him in two.
"You scared now, little Hal?" Hal scoffed as he quickly retorted, the swordsman man "Never, I would rather die than submit to you" Tai walked a few feet from Hal and pointed his blade at Hal once again, saying
"Then stop lying around and prove it" Hal didn't waste, he was not willing to give Tai any more satisfaction as he quickly got up on his feet "Watch me"
And like that, the two boys engaged again, exchanging blow for blow with their blades, which rang out with the intensity of the battle.
Hal soon collapsed on the ground with bruises all over his body, and a smirking Tai loomed above him 'he's happy for someone who just took out a newbie'
Tai sat down next to the panting Hal and said in a joyful tone, "That's enough training for today, and as far as I can tell, you are improving"
Tai seemed to have a lot on his mind as if there was something he desperately wanted to talk about, but couldn't. Of course, Hal had an idea of what it could be, and so he asked.
"How do you feel about last night?" Tai turned to Hal with surprise on his face, with later developed a smile as he said in a relaxed tone
"To be honest, I'm extremely confused about everything, and I don't know if she was telling the truth or if I made the right decision"
Hal had asked the question, but sincerely did not have the answer. He was not much of a people person, and so he did not know what to say, but at least he had to try; either way, it would be better than saying nothing.
"I'm not quite sure about any of this either, but if she was telling the truth, and I believe it would be a waste to let that opportunity slide, besides, wouldn't it be nice to finally know more about your parents?"
Hal saw Tai turn to him with a concerned expression, and he was not surprised. According to them, he had lost his memories and found himself stranded in a cave, so he wouldn't know anything about his parents.
And of which they would not be far off, Hal had only one year of memory, and throughout that, he had only spoken with his parents on the phone, so at this point, their faces were all just a blur.
He let out a quiet sigh and continued, "I believe you want to find out more, that you want to clear that doubt looming in your heart, and what better way to deal with it than to follow Lyrrah?"
Tai let out a sigh of his own as a smile soon followed"
"Either way, I already took her hand and made a deal with her that I will aid in her plan, so this conversation did not really matter, but either way, thanks for that"
'If that was the case, then why did you put me through all that? Does this guy know how much I had to think to come up with all of this?'
Hal was furious, but his anger just seemed to flow away the moment he felt it as he turned up to the sky, "The training might be rough, but I think I'm going to like it here"
Hal trusted in these words until he woke next morning with the visage of Joset standing over him with a smile, "Ready to continue training"