Gemini

Training? AGAIN?

«I still don't understand one thing, and it's driving me crazy» Nate began as we crossed swords during one of our usual friendly duels under Sebas' watchful eye. «Just one thing? Lucky you» I quipped as I parried one of his strikes. «Remember the black-clad cult we ran into in the clearing?» It made me grimace. Not a memory I tended to recall with much pleasure. «Yeah. Why?» I replied. «It just occurred to me now that maybe their leader's Gift, the one that opened the portals, you know who I mean?, isn't like the Geminis» he continued. «What do you mean with that?» I asked as he defended himself from my attacks.

«At the time, I thought only Geminis could manipulate reality in a strict sense, but now, after your recent findings, I believe I might have said something incredibly foolish. What we do, you and I, or rather... what our Gifts do, is manipulate reality in a strict sense, while everyone else, more or less, does it in a looser sense.» The conversation was veering into too philosophical a territory for my liking, but I wanted to grasp where he was heading. «Go on.»

«Most of the Gifts» he said. «All they do is take a single aspect of reality and bring it into manifestation. It doesn't matter how bizarre the Gift may be or how innovative its user may be. The result will always be something certain, something determined. They manipulate reality in a broad sense, precisely. But we don't. The very concept of our Gifts, their inherent nature, is to be indeterminate. They will always respond to our creativity and imagination, without being bound by the determinism of reality. We literally change that determinism».

Wow. Nate has managed to say in an unnecessarily complicated way something remarkably simple. I'll translate it for you: we can literally decide what happens when we use our Gifts, others basically can't. «Interesting» I said. «But how is this different from before? Didn't we already expect that others could have strange Gifts, too?». My answer caught him so off guard that he lost coordination during an attack. I took advantage of this and with a quick flick of my hand disarmed him. «Ten to nine for me» I exclaimed with satisfaction. Nate sat on the ground massaging his sword hand, probably ashamed that he had lost his concentration over something so trivial. And indeed Sebas made himself heard about it as well.

«Silly boy» our master began to rant. «Is it ever possible that one single answer can destabilize you so much during a fight? As punishment you will now train for a week in the Phantom series». Nate looked up in despair, not knowing whether to look at me or Sebas. «Come on Sebas, you know I hate that series» he implored him.
«You had better not get distracted during the fight» Sebas concluded by patting him on the head. «Ouch» he complained, defeated.

I helped him up. Everything considered, it had not been a bad fight. We had both managed to replicate the sixth technique of the two sets Sebas had shown us: the Phantom in the Eclipse and the Dragon of Destiny. Obviously I succeeded better with the first one, but I was not too surprised. By now we had ascertained that Nate and I could only do our best in one of the two series. «How did we do?» I asked Sebas. He seemed to reflect on it. He was probably looking for the most absurd way to magnify and criticize a mistake we had made.

«I must say you weren't that bad». Here he comes.

«But you have made several mistakes. Let's start with you Ellie. That Phantom in the Eclipse was ok, you're going to have to exploit your opponent's blind spots and your surroundings more if you want him to pose more of a threat than a pincushion. Oh, and you should start pulling a little more thrust from those legs, you'll need a lot more speed to master the Phantom series. Instead Nate: you put the right spirit into that Dragon of Destiny, but it doesn't seem to me that Ellie thought her fate was sealed, does it? By now you've figured out how much strength you need to put into the various shots, but you need to start aiming at more precise points if you want them to do any good. If you use the Dragon series you want your enemy to feel helpless and intimidated, not just a little beaten up». Sebas continued in this vein for several more minutes. Nate and I sighed several times: we were used to it by now.