46 Vhalar 719 morning
The work of a Syns Acolyte was rarely exciting to Abra. There was a lot of training and classes and mental exercises that made his head hurt. It didn’t stop him from trying, for he saw that just one promotion made things much better. He guessed that the rigor he was being put through was for the sake of strengthening their nerves and making sure they had what it took to succeed. He also guessed this was why they kept pairing him up with more experienced Empaths. The Syns were incredibly interested in keeping him sane and under their control, so it was in their best interest to take the time to meet with him one on one. The deal that was set up was simple. He would get paid extra if he could crack her tangle. Abra and the Witch sat across from each other at a table. The table had a slight glow to it and woodwork that probably cost a small fortune. It emitted a comforting warmth that made people that sat at it at ease. Abra was focusing so much on the table because he didn’t want to make direct eye contact with the Witch he was talking with today. She was an abomination, riddled with mutations of the brain that extended out onto her entire head. The rest of her body looked fine, but it was clear that she had overstepped greatly during her time in the Syns.
The Witch spoke up. “In this world, people will lie and steal. They will use you to your advantage. They'll deceive you where possible." She spoke only to make an ice breaker. Their attentions were focused on each other now and their tangles could properly mingle. It was her nice way of saying it was time for the evaluation to begin.
Abra crossed his arms, arcing an eyebrow at this life lesson. "This I already knew," he thought. "Of course!" He quipped. Abra focused his Empathy’s ether on her, attempting to see what she meant. He felt nothing from his sense. She felt the same as she had when she entered the room. Her tangle ever vigilant and resistant to his attempts to peer into her emotions. He thought it okay to do this to her, because he immediately noticed that she had done the same to him. Except he wasn’t strong enough to stop her from taking a look.
They went at each others tangles gently with the same ebbing and pulling in the same pattern. It was amazing in of itself, and he was still getting used to such a thing, but nothing new was present. No more words were spoken either while they examined each other. The witch rolled her shoulders as she leaned backwards against her trees, her eyes casually closed. "The sky is green and the grass is blue. You’ll never get into my tangle, not the likes of you. Phrases like these can be used to increase your focus, it helps me at least. You’re welcome to keep trying though.”
Sensing, honing, feeling... he once more, felt nothing. It was difficult to read into-he wondered if he was ready for this next step, but silenced the thought as he continued proding her tangle with his ether. He couldn't afford to let up now. She scowled more, and sharply her tongue blurted: "You disappoint me as expected. I've always considered late joining Acolytes as failures."
Abra was impressed with how well she could cut to his soul, but he continued his attempts at sensing nonetheless. "I'm not lying, Abra. You're worthless to me." She attempted to convince... though wasn't having much luck, much to her amusement.
"Likewise your insults will not affect me," Abra said. He folded his legs as he sat, closing his eyes and clearing his mind... Or rather, attempted to. Time may have passed and he may have been growing accustomed to the sensations of the tangle, but it was always difficult to navigate. How could he possibly influence someone’s tangle who was this adept at guarding themselves? Wasn't it way too early? No. He couldn't think like this. The rude Witch probably wouldn’t be here if she didn't think he could do it. He took a deep breath, relaxing his mind and focusing on her, eyes closed.
They sat in silence for more time. He experimented with playing with her tangle and doing things to it that he never needed or had to try before. Abra finally noticed something. It was faint, like a weak pulse. But he didn't need to sense it to know what she said was wrong. "You're not very convincing with this whole distraction business, you know." Nevertheless, he felt that pulse. He felt his spark was doing something that it normally did not. "Keep going." He thought, eagerness in his mental voice.
His spark was not trying to directly attack the Witch’s tangle anymore. It couldn’t even if it hit it with a barrage of ether, so what was the point? It had even tried hitting it with large pulses of ether, but still nothing. Any budge that he managed to do was quickly identified by the Witch and determined to be an outside influence before being quickly corrected back to normal. But now, Abra’s tangle was not merely attacking with ether… it was attacking and leaving lingering ether in her tangle. He couldn’t exactly put into words how this was even possible, but somehow he was learning that it could be done. This whole time he had thought Empathy ended when the connection was broken, but did it really have to?
The Witch’s expression turned curious when she realized Abra was acting out of the ordinary. She didn’t question him but instead kept up her guard. Abra meanwhile pushed with his ether and attacked a thread of sadness in her tangle. It flared up for a moment and was corrected nearly instantly by the Witch. However, she didn’t know that he had managed to send his ether deep enough into her tangle that it was going to take a lot more time for her to find the depths of his intrusion. Then, as the ether rose back up to the top of the tangle without warning, the Witch suddenly warped her expression once more, tears forming in her eyes as she looked terrified, about to reveal some long-since lost secret. “What? How did you?"
Abra smiled despite his exhaustion. "I’m just an Acolyte, I didn’t do anything," he said. He grinned, feeling something different from that entire exchange... Her tangle had twisted. Abra noticed it then and there. She was redoubling her protections, somehow. She wondered where Abra’s ether had come from. The patterns, the feeling of the emotion itself had felt so real. No, that was inaccurate. It was deeper than that. The actual flow of the magic itself flickered even when she had guarded herself perfectly against his main attack. Abra could see the Witch’s tangle acting differently and he found it easier to attack it again now that she was unsure of herself. He could almost see the flow of her emotions fluctuating in the opposite direction, pushing against their normal patterns with each passing doubt.
Abra picked up on something else that was widely different. Almost a complete opposite signal from normal. A bead of nervous sweat dripped down the Witch’s forehead as even she realized how strange it was. Whereas before the twists of the tangle flowed in one directly now they flowed in the completely opposite directly, effortlessly signaling that she was losing control of her emotions simply because she had slipped up once. For someone with such strong meditation, she didn’t have the discipline needed to deal with failure.
She shook her head, scrunching her face as she attempted to unravel this mystery. “Enough now,” she said after realizing she was just driving herself crazy. “We’ll continue this later, and I will find out how you did that. I’ll be putting in a good word for the progress you’ve made.” She promptly left. She could be as upset as she wanted, but there was no doubt that their newest Empath was progressing quite nicely. If he did well, then from a political standpoint it was only a reflection on how good she was.
As soon as she left, Abra cheered, jumping up and pumping his fist to the air in triumph. Outside the door, the Witch’s face immediately sank into a confused scowl, speechless and blank by the Acolyte’s stupidity. Just when she had thought she had some respect for the boy. Abra didn’t care though. For the first time since he joined the Syns he actually felt like he learned something useful, and he had done it all on his own. Oh, and he was getting paid extra for "winning" too! And if he was going to have a good word put in for him then his promotion to Magus was all but assured. He just needed to play his cards right and bide his time then soon he could do some really exciting stuff in the Syns.
