Chapter 19 - Go For It

  The hound cocks her head curiously at the bird-demon. “Telepathy? What is?” She asks, somewhat confused.

  The crow chuckles. “It is the method we are both using to speak. It is not our mouths making the sounds, but our minds. And likewise, it is the mind of who we speak to that hears it, not their ears.” He explains while swooping down to land on Hara’s back. As he lands, his talons make distinct ‘clacks’ against her hide as if it were the stone it appears to be.

  Hara has to think about what Corvus said, the hound’s face creased in concentration. Then she shakes her head. “Hara voice always been this way. Hara no think Hara doing anything special.” She pauses, concentrating again. “But Hara does know it make little fire inside wave when Hara speak.”

  At that revelation, Corvus lets out a pleased sound. “Ah, your threshold provided it as an innate benefit. Well, given that you can still feel the Animus being used to power it, learning to use that same power to fuel the other skills should be quite simple.” The crow flaps up to leap from Hara’s back and begins to circle overhead. “Alex, perhaps you should teach her how you perform it.”

  Alex nearly stumbles at that. “Me? Wait, I’m still learning it myself, I’m not qualified to teach someone else!” He protests, looking back and forth between Corvus and Hara. “Shit, I’m even operating at a disadvantage! I don’t have Animus powering mine.”

  Corvus swoops lower and flaps to hover in front of Alex. “Precisely. You must focus on the proper activation and maintaining the skill. In truth, your use of the skill is its most pure form. No training-wheels, no guide-rails. You understand how it feels in a way no person with Animus will.” The crow fixes Alex with a meaningful stare, then flaps to regain height and resumes his gliding circles.

  Alex mulls it over, but what makes his mind up for him is what he sees when he looks at Hara. The cute hound is watching him expectantly, tail slowly waving behind her. “OK ok, I’ll try.” He says, chuckling.

  Hara perks up, ears standing tall as her tail whips back and forth with excitement. She isn’t sure what her friends are talking about, but it sounds fun to learn something new. “Alex teach! Hara learn!” She says happily.

  Alex smiles and pats her head. “Alright, so Intent-Movement is how we travel longer distances quickly. You need to focus on where you want to go and…” Alex begins to explain the process. At points he has to backtrack and explain in detail how it feels for him when the skill works, and he also demonstrates it a few times for Hara. Though he’s pretty sure there are times when Hara is happy just having him talk to her, lesson or not.

  For Hara’s part, thinking about what Alex is teaching her is hard. She doesn’t quite grasp the concepts of intent, or will. But when Alex describes how using the things feels, that makes sense to her. “Hara try now!” She exclaims as Alex winds down another round of explanations.

  Alex smiles. He was running out of different ways to describe the feel of how it works. “Alright, go for it! Just don’t… be… surprised…” He trails off as Hara disappears.

  Hara didn’t hear what Alex was trying to say. She was concentrating on a big rock. It looks like such a nice napping place. She wants to go there! Run and jump and land on it! She feels it when something inside her blazes to life, much stronger than when she wants to talk. She lifts a leg to start moving and… She’s there. Hara startles, shocked at suddenly being where she had wanted. It was so easy!

  She does a happy little prance on top of the rock, then turns back towards her friends. But, she can’t see them. The rock was big, and she could see it from far away. But Alex and Corvus are small. Well, smaller than the big rock. She turns this-way and that, frantically looking for any sign of them. Just as the poor hound is about to panic, she hears a familiar voice.

  Corvus appears above Hara’s head. “Wonderfully done, Hara. That was quite the show!” He caws, swooping lower to land on the rock in front of the hound. He’s somewhat surprised when the hound drops to her belly so her face is level with him.

  Hara lets out a low whine. “Hara couldn’t see where friends were. Hara thought Hara was lost.” she says with relief. “Corvus came to find Hara?”

  The crow nods. “When you did not immediately return, I thought it best to follow you and ensure you were safe.”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Hara says in a rush, wiggling forward to touch her nose to Corvus’s bird-form. “Hara no want lose new friends.” The crow responds by using his beak to rub the bridge of Hara’s muzzle. “Corvus show Hara where Alex is?” She pleads, wanting to go back.

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  Using an extended wing, Corvus points out where Alex is still waiting. “There, that tree with a slight bend half-way up. That’s where Alex is.”

  Alex stands slack-jawed. Thanks to Corvus, he knew where Hara had wound up. And with a bit of effort, he was able to use the Perception-Augmentation to see her and Corvus up on the rock. Though both were less than specks at this range. Hara had gone that far, on her first try, with only his explanations to go on. It makes his faltering attempts over the past days feel utterly pathetic.

  Then with barely a rustle of grass and the click of metallic claws against the rocky soil, Hara reappears next to the tree a few feet away. And just as quickly, Corvus appears above them in the air again. “Hara, that was OOOF” Alex is cut-off as he’s tackled by the Stone Hellhound.

  Hara bowls Alex over, wiggling and whining. “Hara did what Alex said. Hara moved really far! Hara couldn’t see friends to come back. Corvus rescued Hara.” She says in a rush, hunkered down atop Alex.

  Meanwhile, Alex couldn’t breathe. For all her lean appearance, Hara is still nearly the size of a Great Dane. A Great Dane made of solid stone. And her weight matches the appearance. “Hara. Can’t breathe.” He wheezes out, patting her sides and fruitlessly trying to push her off.

  With a yip, Hara lifts herself a bit to support her own weight. Alex sucks in a deep breath and then starts to laugh. “You’re just a giant puppy, aren’t you?” He teases a bit, reaching up to rub her sides. The big girl has the decency to look chagrined, but all the same, she leans her head down and gives Alex a lick across his cheek.

  As the pair get up, Alex dusts himself off. “That was impressive, Hara. It took me the better part of a whole day to get the hang of that. You? You just did it like it was nothing.” He says, grinning.

  Corvus chimes in, “It was impressive indeed. However, part of the reason I wanted you to be the one to instruct Hara was so that you could witness the disparity between a Faded soul utilizing these skills, and someone with Animus doing the same.” He says, then lands on Alex’s knapsack. “The power provided by Animus wants to be used. It can be stoked to action far easier than what you accomplish using your raw will-power, your vitality.”

  Alex and Hara both listen to Corvus’s explanation. Then Hara cocks her head at Alex. “Alex no has little fire inside?” She asks in her almost child-like way. “Alex is what Corvus said, Faded?”

  The man nods, with a sad chuckle. “Yeah, that’s right. I don’t have any Animus. That’s where we’re going, a place where I can hopefully get one again.” He explains to the hound. Again, the idea of convincing Hara to give him one of hers teases at the back of his mind. And once more, Alex murders that thought in its crib. Even if she openly offered it to him, it would feel like taking advantage of a child. And Alex would rather disappear.

  Hara frowns, looking quite troubled. But when she speaks, it’s with firm determination in her voice. “Hara help Alex find little fire. Hara no want Alex stay Faded.” She says with all the conviction in the world.

  Corvus peers over Alex’s shoulder from his perch on the knapsack. “Then we should move on. There is another aspect of the Intent-movement that will prove very helpful on the journey. We can actually link our steps together in order to travel as a group.” He says, then hops onto Alex’s shoulder. “One of us will take the role of leading, and the others shall follow. Alex, you will serve as our anchor.”

  Alex nods. “Right, I’ll be the slowest, so I have to set the pace.” He says, a bit grumpy at the other implication of being an anchor, whether Corvus had intended it or not. “So how does this work?” He asks.

  The crow launches right into the lesson. “First Alex, when you begin to focus on using the skill, imagine not only your own movement, but the whole group. Focus on the idea that you’re taking us with you. Like leaves caught in a stream’s current. You’ll be pulling us with your movement.” Corvus pauses and waits for Alex to nod his understanding. “Hara and myself, we will focus on you, rather than a location. Our intention will be to travel with you, to match your step. Hara, you will want to do the same thing you did to move to the rock, except aimed at Alex. Staying at his side.” The hound gives a soft ruff. “Shall we make the attempt?”

  Both Alex and Hara give a quick nod. Then Alex turns back towards the trail and picks his next target. He pictures all three of them moving together, imagines the blurring movement happening to all of them as one. And as he goes to step, he feels it, something from within Hara and Corvus bolstering him like a tailwind. In an instant, it was over.

  Unlike his normal Intent-movement steps, he doesn’t even notice the blurring. It happened so quickly his mind can’t even register that he moved. To Alex, it felt more akin to teleportation than the way the Intent-movement normally works for him. And as he glances to the side, Hara is right there and Corvus on his shoulder. “Oh now THAT was cool.” Alex says with a grin. “I don’t feel the same drain either. It was faster too.” He muses.

  Hara looks up at him with a wag. “Hara felt little fire reach for Alex. Then whoosh!” She says, starting to prance back and forth on her paws. “This is fun! Hara like learning to do new things.” She says excitedly.

  Corvus nods along as well. “Presicely. When utilizing this joined movement, our Animus can assist your effort. Conjoined Activation, is typically how it is referred to by others. It can be applied to many techniques, but for now its application to match our travel together is quite helpful.” He explains happily. “Utilizing this, we should reach the edge of the Abyssal Grotto in short-order.”

  Alex nods. “OK, let's get moving then. You said the grotto is a safe place, right?” He asks while preparing to step off again.

  “Quite safe. It belongs to an old acquaintance of mine.” Corvus assures him as the trio snaps from one place to another. Alex moves, trusting that subtle ‘pull’ to guide him in the right direction.