The Foolhardies 114 Astral Projection

"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul," I quoted from my favorite poem, and for some reason, it really did seem to work, this mantra thing. "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!"

Like static electricity raking across the edge of my shadowblade, a more brilliant, bluish light exploded out of it and rotated along the edge, following the path of its vibration up and down my falchion like a chainsaw. Errant sparks flew out of the blade every once in a while like bolts of lightning streaking out at the nearest metal surface. It was certifiably cool.

Unfortunately, as soon I thought that and lost my concentration, the intense light blinked out and my shadowblade's edge returned to its regular blue-veined default.

"d.a.m.n," I hissed. "I almost had it.

Sweat dripped down the tip of my nose. My entire body heaved from fatigue.

Smack!

A sharp wooden object struck the back of my shoulder, sending a piercing pain streaking down my arm.

"Wh-whoa!" I darted away before turning around to complain, "What was… that for?"

"You lost concentration," Azuma explained.

He smacked me again with the b.u.t.t of his spear.

"Stop minding. Focus," he instructed.

It had been a few hours since all our visitors had left, and after looking through the scrying orb Nike gave me and confirming nothing big was happening in the greater Fayne, I spent the rest of my night in the training hall with Azuma and Luca. I left the more mundane stuff, like tower management and renovations, to Aura and Varda who both seemed to have a knack for it.

"Time out," I said, flopping down on the matt in a heap. "Too… tired…"

I was out of breath, feeling like I'd just run a marathon, and yet, for all my effort all I could manage to do was let loose a few sparks.

Azuma stood over me, his eyes scanning my face.

"Mastery of the elemental weapon isn't easy, Dean," he said, almost comfortingly. "It's not for everyone, but what you managed to do now was already impressive considering the elemental spirits answering your call isn't one of the four basics, but a hybrid."

"An advanced… form of fire elemental," I repeated the words he'd revealed to me earlier. Apparently, I'd called to the spirits and lightning was the one to answer my call, which was completely bonkers for me as I'd always believed in science more than the mumbo jumbo that was a fairy's arcane arts.

I breathed slowly and reclaimed my breath.

"It still doesn't make sense," I said.

"It isn't supposed to," Azuma chided. "Your science may work on Mudgard, but the Fayne—"

"—is a whole different ball game," I finished his lecture for him. "I know… and it's YOUR science too, man."

Azuma chuckled. "Ten minutes… then you'll try again."

I nodded distractedly, turning my focus only on reclaiming my strength for round fifteen.

I'd only just closed my eyes when Luca plopped his b.u.t.t next to mine and offered me a cup of water which I took gratefully.

"How come you're not having such a hard time with this?" I asked sincerely.

It really did come naturally to Luca, this Augmentare thing. In fact, what takes me hours to conjure for a few seconds only takes him a few seconds to conjure and make last for at least an half an hour.

"Azuma's right… you think too much. I don't. I just let the spirits flow," Luca advised.

"Well, you sound like a hippie," I countered.

Luca and exchanged some more playful banter before he asked me about what Albert had given me.

I reached into my pocket and handed him the leafy packet. "See for yourself."

Luca unwrapped the delicate leaf packaging to reveal the three yellow marbles underneath it.

"What are they?" he asked.

"Aura said they're called Idunn's Tears," I answered. "Crystalized mana left to bathe in Idunn's golden light during the full moon… I think…"

I glanced toward the marbles and gingerly picked one up between my forefinger and thumb.

"More fairy mumbo jumbo if you ask me,"  I joked.

"But what's it supposed to do?" Luca pressed, picking one of the marbles up himself.

"Aura's not sure… but she and Albert think these things can help me temporarily see better when I use my fairy gift," I answered.

It was a while later, almost two minutes before Azuma would call me up again, when Luca finally said, "Why haven't you tried it yet?"

It was a good question.

"Um, you want me to stick something I know nothing about into my mouth?" I asked incredulously.

"You've done it before," he reminded me, harkening back to the old days when he and I would sample whatever bizarre food dad and mom brought home from their trips overseas. "Just one, come on."

I glanced over to my little brother. Then I glanced over to Azuma who was still in the corner meditating. Finally, I looked down at the yellow marble in my hand. Seconds ticked by when I finally made the decision and ate Idunn's Tears.

It tasted at first of cheese, the hard kind. But the longer it was in the mouth the more I could feel this wet and salty taste, like a ball of actual tears, on my tongue. I unconsciously swallowed. Then—nothing.

"I don't feel any different," I said.

"Um, maybe you have to shout out an incantation for it to work," Luca suggested.

I shook my head. The answer was probably simpler like maybe I needed to activate Fool's Insight first. I did just that, and as soon as the final word escaped my lips, an explosion occurred.

I am not s.h.i.+tting you, I literally felt like my body had exploded into a thousand, thousand pieces. And like the big bang, my consciousness detonated outward, spreading into the sky in a slightly similar fas.h.i.+on to that moment whenever I arrived at the Fayne. Only this time, my body wasn't whole, and I found myself spreading across the Fayne like a swarm of angry lights moving this way and that with no clear direction in sight.

Wis.h.i.+ng for clarity to return, I screamed the first name to pop into my pained brain, "Darah!" and like a snap of a finger, I was zooming past my tower below, past barren lands to the lush greens of Trickster territory, and finally, to the great forest of redwoods that Fort Darah called home.

Next thing you know, my consciousness is floating inside Darah's quarters right beside Darah who was seated on her golden throne while talking with Thors who was standing opposite her.

"I wish I could have seen the look on that boy's face when he saw the presents I sent him," Darah laughed.

Thors sighed. "You do realize that sending other young commanders into the Westmarch without prior warning could be disastrous for Dean and his Foolhardies?"

"Oh, grow a pair, Roger," she chided. "Don't coddle the boy too much or he'll end up useless. Better we give him compet.i.tion and see what he's really made of."

Thors sighed again. "Patriarch's not going to be happy that you let Lavinia send her niece. That girl is more likely to harm Aurana than compete with Dean."

At the mention of the Patriarch, my consciousness exploded into tiny lights again, and it wasn't until I was high above his cloister and descending did I feel myself become whole again.

My consciousness drifted down to Auranos Trickhaven while he was tended to by his servants. They were reapplying new bandages to his wounds that didn't seem to heal.

Just seeing him in his weakness felt like an invasion of privacy, but I had no control over what I saw.

"Letting him keep his command in the west is very dangerous," Orryn Timbers whispered. "He's already consolidated so much power there. What if he seeks to start a rebellion?"

He was sitting in the seat opposite Auranos' lounge chair.

"He wants no such thing," argued the wraith-like creature sitting next to Orryn. "The general has proven his loyalty to house Trickhaven time and time again. Even now, he holds back the tide of the Dominion less it reach our central region."

Orryn looked over to his fellow chancellor and scowled, almost managing to look disgusted while he did.

"You give him too much credit, Kairon," Orryn said.

"And you give him too little, Orryn," Kairon spat back.

"My uncle will not betray us… not while I draw breath," Auranos said, his voice even weaker than before, and yet I couldn't help hearing a chuckle in his tone. "Great General Garm knows that I am getting weaker. He will wait for me to waste away before he tries to claim my seat…"

Orryn had said something else, something important. But I hadn't heard it because at the mention of Great General Garm, my consciousness was already drifting away.

When next I found myself, I was floating in a dark room that even this new ghostly vision couldn't penetrate. I could only tell that it was a large s.p.a.ce covered in deep blackness, and also, I wasn't alone. There were two others in that room with me.

"The boy is special… he can be used to our advantage," whispered a silky voice that was definitely feminine. Perhaps even elven, but there was a slight accent to it. Almost like an Asian woman speaking English when it wasn't her first language.

"The boy has attracted a lot of attention… we'll have a hard time acquiring him—"

The voice that had spoken was definitely male. Part gruff and part lyrical in that way elven voices tended to be. But it had stopped abruptly as if it had been alerted to something.

Catching on, the female voice spoke up. "What is it?"

"We're not alone," the male voice whispered.

And then, just as suddenly, I felt a scarred hand streak toward my face like it had meant to swat at me but succeeded only in making me lose form again.

My consciousness drifted away, into the sky, into that gla.s.s ceiling I often talked about separated the two worlds, and past that gla.s.s ceiling, then down, down, down into Arah's front yard.

Suddenly, I was watching my two friends, Arah and Ty, looking at each other in a weird way I'd never seen them do before. But while Arah looked at Ty with skepticism and wariness, Ty was looking back at Arah like I often looked at Aura.

"Look, Arah, I mean it…" Ty said, his voice unusually quaking. "I li-like you as more than a friend."

Holy s.h.i.+t! This was the absolute worst time to drop in and spy on my friends.

"I know you like s-someone else… always have," Ty admitted. "But he doesn't appreciate you like I do."

"Ty, I, you're making this awkward," Arah sighed.

She turned around from him which is what I should have done too. All my willpower was spent on making this happen and I'd just managed to do that while pretending not to have heard Ty profess his love to Arah a second time when I noticed I wasn't the only peeping Tom.

There, by the bushes on the opposite street, crouching so neither of the distracted pair could see him, was the hooded elf who was outside my house.

Weirdly enough, it looked like the elf could see me too.

Its dark eyes widened momentarily as it registered my presence. Then, with a flick of his wrist and a series of whispers I a.s.sumed was an arcane chant, he sent what I could only describe as a mental shockwave straight at me, causing my head to reel back in pain.

I screamed. I screamed all the way into waking from that bizarre out of body experience.