In a small room the darkness of the night was slowly being pushed back by a gentle ray of sunlight. It gradually illuminated the room more and more, eventually landing on the face of a young man as if trying to gently wake him by softly caressing his face with warmth and light. Yet after a while it became clear that it was failing to do so. The sudden obnoxiously loud clucking of a rooster filling his ears certainly did tho.
After a short while of reluctant stretching and groaning he gently sat on the side of the old wooden bed frame. His movement filled the room with quiet sounds of rustling and crunching from the hay he had been sleeping on He swiftly put on a pair of boots, hose, and a tunic with practiced motions. Standing up and looking around the room filled with shabby wooden furniture and clay pottery, his eyes landed on a stove. He leisurely walked over to it picking up a small clay bowl on his way and using it to scoop up broth from a pot suspended over the stove. Turning around he walked back to sit down at a table in the middle of the room some left over old bread still laying on top of it and began eating slowly.
After finishing his meal he stood up and started walking towards the front door stepping outside of his little cabin. Surrounding him were animal pens and open fields. If one looked a bit farther they could see fields upon fields of growing grain. beyond those grain fields laid endless grass plains Looking toward the horizon a strong breeze blew against his face forcing him to partially close his eyes. "I really hope it won't stay windy all day. Always makes getting around harder." he muttered.
About a hundred meters away stood a large farmhouse made from wood and clay it stood upon a stone foundation with a large waterwheel mounted on the side, as he walked closer and closer to the slowly rotating wheel the sound of running water started to intensify. In front of the wheel stood a large bald man with muscular arms and a beer belly. After thinking for a while he started walking towards the man, When he arrived next to the man he said. "Morning Henrick, what are you staring at?"
Without looking at the young man beside him Henrick replied, "Morning Alix. the wheel seems to be getting loose again. I think some of the bolts have corroded and broken off again. It's always something with this stupid thing" Alix replied "Yeah, next time you are in the city it might be better to try to find bolts more resistant to corrosion" Letting out a sigh Henrick replied "oh how i wish i could afford that Alix, either way how is ur progress Alix Are you getting close?"
"I think I'll make it. I still have two months left dont I? I'll be fine. Besides even if I don't reach the benchmark, I doubt they'll just send me back home." After a short hollow chuckle Henrick replied, "You're probably right. But it'll be safer for you if you do. I can't believe how bad it's gotten the moment anyone turns eighteen they immediately get drafted." Letting out a deep sigh Alix said "Well, at least they still have the decency to give us basic training before sending us off towards our deaths."
After an awkward moment of silence Henrick said "Don't worry about the farm for the next two months Alix. Use the time you have left to focus on your training." Letting out another sigh, he continued, "It seems it's time for me to look for a new farmhand." "Thank you" Alix replied letting out a gentle smile.
After a bit of small talk Alix started walking back towards his cabin. He diden't really know how to feel about the fact that he was being drafted to go and defend the border, he wasen't overly attached to his country, he frankly wasent even fully sure what the country was called. He had only heard it a few times before, all the way back when he was still being taught in the city it was rather difficult to recall, that is how long ago it was. "Slandsra i think" he whispered to himself.
Alix had been told many times when he was young that it was the duty of the citizins to help and defend there home but frankly he coulden't really bring himself to care. Why would he care about a conflict that he dusen't even know the cause of? Why did he have to go die for people he diden't even know? How did that make any sense? It truly was a bitter feeling, he had considered simply not going many times but from the rumours he had heard everyone that had attempted doing that ended up with a far worse fate.
How did they even keep track of everyone? Alix wonderd, who is keeping track of everyone? there were so many questions he desperately wanted awnsers to that were simply impossible to find and most likely if he even started trying to find out about doubted he would end up living a long and happy life. the only people who diden't get drafted were people essential for the infrastructure of the country itself, people like Henrick, farmers, doctors, miners.
Inside of the cabin his eyes landed on a straw mat on the hard wooden floor. walking over he sat down on top of it and began to relax, breathe, and focus. A while later when he was in the right state of mind he begun he started using his will to force himself into a state he forced himself to start resonating.
First with the mat beneath him, then with the bed at his side, then the table in front of him. Slowly, gently, he spread out his senses as if trying to reach out to the very world itself. But right outside his cabin it stopped, This was his limit. His mind wasn't yet able to reach out further. He waited, focusing, using his will to maintain his state of mind until he felt it no, until he resonated with it a tiny bright cyan spark coming off a rock just outside his house, invisible to the naked eye but he knew it was there.
He focused on it, gently letting it know he was there that he was waiting for it, trying to lure it towards him. He wasn't able to force it not yet. The spark leisurely moved towards him bobbing slightly up and down as it hovered closer. It pressed softly against his forehead as if hesitant to enter but eventually it did it passed straight through the layers of muscle and bone straight into his brain. Inside Alix started using his will to start making it rotate, slowly at first then faster and faster until the spark seemed to start melting.
When it started melting Alix began to feel it, euphoria. All he could feel was happiness, pleasure. It felt like he was growing taller, stronger as though he had suddenly woken up in a body that wasn't his own, this new body felt larger, more powerful. The feeling grew more and more intense until, finally the spark fully melted and the feeling vanished abruptly.
Although the process seemed quick it wasn't. It took him a full fifteen minutes of intense focus, relaxation, using his will to guide that little cyan spark over to him. By then he was already exhausted more mentally than physically but he knew that he couldn't stop not yet. He was starting to feel a dull but persistent headache in his skull but the sooner he completed the second part the better.
He began using his will to force himself into a state of resonance again, but this time he started resonating with himself and not the world around him. he started Trying to feel it digging deeper and deeper into himself trying to find it and then he did. He felt a faint connection to it, his own soul.
Using resonance as a form of communication he started conveying his will towards it, once it arrived his soul felt it the faint but clear instructions hidden within the will. Luckily his own soul was far more cooperative than the cyan spark it as good as immediately started following the instructions. Then suddenly a new feeling struck him not euphoria no this time it was pain. immense pain, But he couldn't stop. no he had to keep going. Under his guidance his soul began compressing into itself like a sponge being squeezed into itself smaller and smaller, more compact. the veins on his face swelled and for just a moment pulsed a soft cyan glow, internally The cyan glow of his soul grew ever so slightly brighter more radiant.
Then came the worst part. He focused even more intensely, trying to sense the minuscule slightly darker less radiant spots on his soul. He had to carve them out, If he didn't remove them the purity of his soul would end up decreasing instead of increasing, Guiding his soul toward those little spots he helped it scrape them off of itself, The pain this time was so severe that it felt like it was literally trying to shatter his very mind itself. For just a fraction of a moment he almost lost his focus.
But luckily, he didn't. If he had ended up removing the wrong parts of his soul the entire session would have been a waste of time and effort. Finally having removed all the impurities he fell backward his back hitting the cold wooden floor. Taking slow deep breaths Alix lay there covered in sweat his headache intensifying. Steadying his breathing he muttered "Fuck, I almost messed up. I'm in too much of a hurry I can't afford to get careless."
Alix had been doing this for years now. Everyone was taught how to as a child no matter who they are or where they come from. Back when he started it took him almost a year just to enter a state of resonance and another year to successfully guide a spark and refine his soul. According to his teacher from the nearby city that was already faster than most children. Even though his current attempt had gone less smoothly than usual it was still far better than back then.
Over time it had gotten easier. The range of his resonance had gotten far larger back then he could basically only wait for sparks to come off of himself, after refining his soul countless times it had become a lot more attuned with the world making it easier to enter and maintain that state. Alix himself didn't fully understand what the sparks are. According to his teacher, everything had a soul every tree, every rock, every grain of sand. Each soul absorbed energy to maintain itself, in the process releasing minuscule amounts of 'soul energy' or more often called anima. The larger and stronger the soul, the more anima would radiate off of it.
Sometimes those tiny amounts of anima clumped together forming a spark big enough for Alix to resonate with and guide towards himself. The impurities he had to remove was anima that still carried leftover will from whatever object or being it came from the will left inside of it was so deeply ingrained that the only real way for him to get rid of it was to simply carve it away. How a rock could have a will was something Alix didn't understand himself, there also was no real way for him to confirm whether his teacher was right or not but from observation and experience it seemed true enough.
Every time Alix completed a cycle of refinement the next became easier. Each cycle brought minuscule improvements to his mind and soul increasing his mental capabilities and shortening his mental recovery time. Suddenly Alix inhaled a deep cold breath of air pulling himself upright into a sitting position again preparing for his next cycle this time he would be slower, more carefull.
And so he continued cycle after cycle there were only a few times Alix took a break, it was either to eat something, relieve himself or when his mental recovery simply coulden't keep up with the non stop repetition anymore he would usually use moments like that to eat trying to complete the absolute most cycles a day he could muster.
This was the daily routine Alix followed for the next month and half he would wake up early in the morning and repeat that cycle over and over again truthfully he coulden't help himself and started to here and there help with small tasks around the farm but most of his focus went towards completing as many cycles as possible. until one day suddenly on a seemingly ordinary morning he felt it Instinctively he knew his soul knew they ware ready for the next step.
Inhaling deeply Alix muttered to himself "Finally after years of practice, I've gotten this far. Fuck why can't refining my soul feel as good as growing it? Then the last month and a half might've turned out to be the best time of my life. Instead of that it more felt like voluntary torture" He was almost ready. All he had left to do was get into the correct state of mind and then he could begin crystallizing his soul.
His teacher had told him that the first stage was divided into three steps Soul Crystallization, Vessel Purification, and one more unknown step. His teacher didn't know what the third step was, or how to reach it. As far as Alix knew his teacher had only reached Vessel Purification. Overall the first stage was considered a preparation phase, people in this stage were called anima forgers. Alix was finally ready to start his Souls Crystallization and begin Vessel Purification this was also benchmark he was expected to reach.
Over the next week, Alix carefully studied the notes his teacher had given him on how to form his Soul Crystal. Although it was only a single page Alix couldn't count the amount of times he had read it trying to make sure he didn't forget a single word written on it.
After a long nights sleep and his usual routine alix sat down on the mat doing his best to suppress the massive amount of stress building in his chest he couldent let himself mess this up because of something as stupid as simply getting distracted. taking a deep breath he started using his will to resonate with his soul as usual and started guiding it, this time tho there was no anima spark like before instead he was using something else he started making it rotate faster and faster what he was using this time was his very own soul he had gather it, all of it and trapped it inside of his own skull.
Eventually just like the anima sparks his own soul began melting. But that wasn't all his brain itself began melting along side of it aswell. It took everything he had to suppress the panic that was rising inside of him a primal instinct was screaming at him that this was wrong, unnatural. But he didn't stop no instead He sped up the rotation of his soul even more even faster. At first the pain was bearable due to the endurance he had built up from years of refining his soul. But slowly it grew worse, overpowering.
When his brain and soul had reached a halfway point it became harder and harder to focus. The pain was simply indescribable, it was like he had already died that he was being punished for trying to break the laws the world had imposed onto him and for just a moment he convinced himself that it would be better to just give up, that it would be better to try and piece his soul and brain back together all he wanted it that moment was to stop enduring this torment. If Alix had attempted crystallizing his soul a month ago he would have failed.
But he hadn't. He had refined his soul just enough to pull trough, he had refined his mind just enough for it to pull him back from the edge, Jolting back from the edge of unconsciousness he resumed rotating his soul doing his best to speed up the process even more, and for the first time in years something that hadn't happened ever since back when he started happened. A groan escaped his lips and then it happened again and again and again each time they got louder and louder until his groans weren't groans anymore no he was screaming.
Then he finally did it. His brain and soul fully melted, all that was left inside of his skull was a strange soup of pinkish-gray and bright cyan inside his skull. His soul was no longer purely metaphysical it had become corporeal radiant cyan liquid that was mixed with the melted remains of his brain. Then Alix felt it his consciousness started slipping it started growing weaker and weaker over time He had to hurry. If he failed now he would without a doubt die. There was no going back anymore It was do or die.
Using his will he gathered the liquid into a spherical shape. For the first time he didn't guide it or ask it to do something, no he commanded it. He commanded the last remaining will within the liquid to begin crystallizing itself. And so it did, A thin cyan film started forming over the liquid sphere growing thicker and thicker until it started hardening itself there was no order to it, it hardened in random places and sizes when it was done it created something that looked more like a hundred sided dice then a sphere, Pinkish-gray and bright cyan shifted randomly across its surface.
Then suddenly Alix felt it his resonance spread outward around him without him being able to stop it twice, no almost three times further than it had ever reached before. And this time, it wasn't just anima sparks coming toward him. Every minuscule bit of anima being released by everything within his range rushed toward him, flooding into his Soul Crystal, further hardening it, completing it.
Outside the cabin, Henrick suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked toward Alix's direction. Even without being in a state of resonation himself, his own Soul Crystal could feel the disturbance in the surrounding anima. "He managed to form his Soul Crystal in time, without any hiccups at that I'm glad" Henrick said letting out a relieved sigh before returning to what he was doing.
Just as suddenly as the wave of anima came it stopped. But before Alix could rest, a new wave of pain spread through his entire body. Screaming, he yelled, "Fuck! Does this ever end? Is getting off to pain a requirement for being an anima Forger or something?!"
Inside of his skull the crystal slammed into the the top of his spine slowly every single nerve coming out of his spine connected itself to the crystal every vein on alix's body started swelling pulsing a bright cyan color all the muscles on his body started becoming more and more defined his hair started growing longer and what looked like cyan cracks started appearing all over his body. and then out of nowhere all of it just stopped, Alix had passed out.
When he finally woke again he slowly sat up and for a while he just sat there silently staring at the roof of his cabin. Letting out a deep sigh he whispered "I did it I survived" Massive waves of relief washed over him Multiple times while forming his crystal he thought he had failed that he was going to die. From what he had been told, nearly forty percent of anima Forgers failed Soul Crystallization and died. Despite that everyone still had to do it he no one was forcing them to but he and everyone else knew that if they diden't there was even less hope of surviving.
After resting for a while he started wondering what had happened what had caused him to pass out, Alix started going through his teacher's notes about Vessel Purification. Eventually he found what he was looking for an explanation. from what he could find a mortal body wasn't able to handle the strain the crystal put on it. all his blood vessels almost bursting open was proof enough of that. Until his body was able to handle it the crystal would remain in a semi-dormant state.
Despite that he could feel an enormous difference from before he had formed it. Alix was in a constant state of alertness without even a hint of mental fatigue. He also wasn't tired at all There was no brain fog left at all. His thoughts were faster, smoother it felt as if everything came more naturally, he guessed that his reflexes had gotten a lot faster as well, according to what he had read he no longer needed to sleep.
Just like with every soul around him his consciousness was now being maintained by the same energy that was sustaining them. it was more accurate to say that his mind and soul combined into one they could no longer be considered separate things. he noticed that that recalling memories was a lot easier as well, Still he felt mild discomfort not knowing exactly what the energy was that was now keeping him alive or where it was coming from.
He decided to set the matter aside there was no way to find the answers he wanted so there was no reason to worry about it. For the last couple of days he had left on Henrick's farm Alix decided to pause his training and help Henrick before leaving, those couple of days would make no difference anyway so he decided that he would rather spend the remaining time he had left here with henrick.
The following days slowly passed until finally the last one arrived the day Alix was going to leave the farm. they both stood outside the farm looking towards the old wooden wagon approaching from over the horizon it was being drawn by a single horse it would take Alix only a day or 2 to get to the city Henrick's farm was relatively close to it Alix glanced at Henrick beside him. An awkward silence filled the air after a while Henrick finally spoke up and said. "It seems we're both not very fond of saying goodbye."
Letting out a deep sigh Henrick made up his mind he turned towards Alix, and for the first time he hugged Alix. "Be careful out there Alix. I'd prefer to see you again someday." After a pause, Alix replied, "I'll try my best but Sadly I can't promise anything" after a short pause Alix said "Thank you, thank you Henrick for everything, For raising me."
When Alix was still too young to remember anything the conflict at the border started, the result was that his father Alexander ended up being drafted, just like he was now. He never received any sort official news but considering he never heard from his father again it wasn't hard to guess what had happened. struggling to recover from grief his mother ended up dropping him off at Henrick's farm a then family friend and she just never ended up picking him up again. He didn't know where she was or what ended up happening to her. It took many years and many arguments with Henrick for him to recover from losing her. Though Alix still hadn't forgiven her and likely never would he no longer truly blamed her.
Honestly he suspected that this outcome probably made his childhood a lot better than it would have been otherwise. She could barely provide for herself, let alone both of them. Trying to survive while mourning her husband mustn't have been easy for her. Despite his lingering anger and resentment he still hoped that she had managed to start a new life and hadn't simply ended it. All in all Henrick ended up becoming a father figure to him over the years.
Breaking the hug, Alix said, "I hope to see you again someday as well Henrick. I really do, Good luck with your new farmhand I hope they don't cause as much trouble as I did."
Letting out a light chuckle Alix began walking towards the wagon that had arrived during their conversation. As he climbed aboard he heard Henrick call out from behind him "Thank you as well Alix. Without you I don't think I would have ever experienced what it felt like to be a father. Seeing you grow and mature have been some of the happiest experiences of my life, the memories we've ended up making together over the years are ones I'll never forget."
Hearing Henrick behind him the feelings Alix had been holding back flooded outward for the first time in a very long time tears slowly trickled down his face not from sadness, but from happiness. Happiness from the amazing childhood he had on the farm, happiness from all the time he had spent together with Henrick and all the amazing memories he had made with him Sitting down as the wagon began to move Alix stood for a brief moment, looked back towards Henrick and shouted
"Thank you for everything, Dad!"