82 The Might of a 7th Layer Xanthian (1/2)

Kang was perched on his wooden chair, eyes squinted and tongue hanging out to one side as he whittled away on a block of wood with his carving knife, the room was quiet only the occasional squawk of a seabird could be heard in the distance, flakes of wood fell to the ground as the knife delicately danced around with surgical precision. The sun was retreating from the purple skies and long shadows sifted through the large windows and across Kang and the cup filled with milk sat on the table, this made Kang hold the unfinished sculpture up closer to the window and leaned closer to the waning sunlight as he worked.

There was a sudden Boom like a clap of thunder, the sound rolled and rumbled. The table vibrated and the milk in his cup swilled this way and that before settling down again, the vibrations was enough to throw Kangs carving knife off line. Kang sighed... he had made another mistake and ruined another block of wood... he accurately threw the unfinished carving over his shoulder where it was swallowed by the shadows behind him as it landed into a garbage bin with many similar unfinished carvings. Kang looked through his window with wide eyes, he then gritted his teeth and disappeared.

Hartley stood in front of the mini forest that now looked like a nice haircut ruined by an obvious bald patch. The natural woody perfume of the destroyed tree barks suffused through the air, the shock on his face was even more drastic than Kang's, he held up both hands to his eyes and inspected them as if something unfathomable had happened. His eyes slowly turned heavy-lidded and glazed, smiling slowly he rehearsed in his mind the test strike. Under the influence of advanced state of focus instead of releasing one pulse with precision timing on contact with the tree, on a whim he had used one pulse to collide with another pulse just before he made contact with the tree.

He didn't know what to expect, he thought the pulses might even cancel out each other and make the strike useless, instead it was like splitting an uranium atom, The weak punch did as much damage as he could achieve with his strongest punch before he had control over his elemental power. His breakthrough contributed to the power of the strike as well, a late phase xanthian was much more powerful than a mid phase xanthian.

A group a people came running towards Hartley, armed and ready to repel any attack, led by the silver hair man wearing golden armor that had carried them here in the black metal carriage. He stopped ten meters from Hartley and looked around appraising the damage. For the first time Hartley heard the man's voice ”You did this?” his voice sounded like wagon wheels grating over gravel stones, it was a low gravelly tone. Before Hartley could answer, Kang appeared, ”Why, why, why my beautiful trees.... to make beautiful carvings....” Kang looked out at the patch of stumps and his eyes welled up like a dam was about to burst.

Guilt and a hint of shame washed over Hartley, he stepped forward and bowed from the waist and said ”sorry senior I was experimenting with compressed circulation and lost control” Kang's face snapped backin Hartley's direction. ”What?” his eyes opened wide ”Already?” he looked Hartley up and down smiling persuasively, ”tomorrow you and Goldie here can have a spar for our entertainment.” Of course he was talking about the silver hair man with the golden armor, Kang's mood swing surprised Hartley, the man was no longer mourning the death of his trees, instead he beamed, teeth gleaming like a happy child, clapping both hands repeatedly like a captured seal performing in the circus and looking forward with glee in his eyes.

Everyone started to disperse as the darkness started to claim the evening as its own, but as everyone was moving Hartley heard a snide remark from the man in the golden armor, ”truly scraping the bottom of the barrel” he had said through gritted teeth under his breath as he bowed from the waist and said ”I'll be off now master” to Kang. Hartly paid it no mind and acted as if he hadn't heard but in his heart he was truly glad the eccentric Kang had set up such a short notice sparring match, he could figure out the might of a 7th layer xanthian and serve up some humble pie for the man who had looked down on them since the very first day they had met.

Once again Kang looked at the destroyed trees and sighed, a sigh from his belly, one full of regret. ”Lets walk young man” he said. The wind blew his hair gently and their shadows started to melt away into the thick shadows forming on the grass. Hartley fell in step beside the man as they made their way back in the gloomy evening. ”You did it quicker than I thought you would,” he said as he walked with his hands behind his back looking for the first time in Hartley's memory wise and dignified. ”So do you understand the theory behind spatial cracks?”

”No.” Hartley replied honestly. Kang smiled and all the petulant child-like behavior he had displayed for the loss of his trees disappeared, he had a serious look on his face as he began.

”This is a physical plain.” Kang panned his head from side to side to indicate the surroundings. ”It is the weakest plain and can be manipulated with elemental energy easier than most, once one is powerful enough they can rip holes in the very fabric of it. Once one opens a hole in the fabric of space itself, that is called a spatial crack, the plane in turn tries to bring back balance and maintain the integrity of the plain by automatically forcing them shut with massive amounts of black energy.”

”But if you are skilled enough or have an affinity with space you can use cracks in space as a tool to shorten distances, communicate with others from long distances or attack from long distances. The greater the distance one tries to launch a spacial crack the more the plane fights to return balance making it dangerous and unstable, the duration it can stay open for also decreases. Trying to travel long distances through a spatial crack exerts massive stresses on the physical body but if one is strong enough and powerful enough the distances that can be traveled is almost infinite. This is the concept of ascending from the mortal plain, but that's a lesson for another time.”

”Usually people who attack through cracks only attack those weaker than themself. Because a counter attack would destabilize the crack and give the person who opened the crack a wicked backlash.”

”Look” Kang's hand moved forward from behind his back and there was a black circular spatial crack roiling and rumbling over his outstretched palm, it was very distinct and easy to see even in the gloom of the evening.

”There” he used his left hand to point at a spot that was rumbling and shimmering. ”If you are attacked by someone using a spatial crack, don't ever attack the person on the other end, even though your perception is showing the person standing right in front of you,

Your attack will have to travel the full distance that person is away from you, in other words if someone opens a spatial crack and attacks you from a mile away, if you try and attack them directly your attack would have to travel a full mile through the turbulent space crack before it reaches them while they can attack you like you are an arm's length away.”

”Always attack the unstable parts of the crack, even the most skilled experts with an affinity to space cannot fully stabilize a space crack, there are always weak areas.” He used his index finger on his left hand and poked the weak spot of the crack and it rumbled violently then puffed out of existence.”

Kang walked with Hartley all the way to the war mansion schooling him with essential knowledge before saying his good byes and disappearing....

It was bright, hot and dry, the sun glinted of the golden armor of the silver hair man who Kang had referred to as Goldie, he swaggered out to the middle of the dusty training field to the applause and cheers of the guards.

Kang was sat comfortable on what looked like a lawn chair under a gazebo, there was a small table in front of him,

he leaned forward to pick up a glass of milk and sipped it as if it was whisky.

He had arranged this sparring match to test out Hartley, he knew the youth was capable but not to what extent.