NOVEL NEXT Chapter 119: Hunter and prey
After rounding a corner, Tia gestured for them to stop. Levin went on high alert, and Rolwen seemed to be looking around for something. Seconds later, Rolwen seemed to find something that satisfied him and pointed. Tia gave a single stiff and slow nod to approve Rolwen’s silent communication.
Rolwen lead the way, moving low to the ground in the now well trained silent method of walking Asa had drilled into them. Tia followed behind, and Levin was caught coming in from behind as he struggled in his mind to keep up with their silent understanding of the situation.
They moved toward a house that had small porch put up in front of it. On one side of the porch, there was a small wooden railing, made with a solid wooden sheet rather than any kind of fence-like supports. This provided a large enough space that all three of them, in their young child-like bodies, would have no problem at all concealing themselves in the same location.
As Levin was settling into his hiding spot, Rolwen began using hand gestures to communicate with Tia. He mimed grabbing something, and then made a throwing motion. Tia frowned, but she ultimately nodded.
As they had reached an agreement, they all turned their focus to the road, silently waiting for their target to come into position.
Being human, Levin knew he had to do his best to suppress his spirit so it couldn’t be detected. He had not truly awoken his void meditation yet, but he’d been taught enough that he was able to improve his spirit suppression well beyond what a normal person was capable of. Hell, with how much being on the battlefield had augmented his other areas of the meditation, he wouldn’t be at all surprised if his void meditation had gotten a boost as well.
He focused as flashbacks of Asa’s lectures went through his mind. Control of these metaphysical forces relied entirely on one’s intent. So, he had to focus on what he wanted the energy to do. The most powerful intent was the one that was the closest to what you were truly trying to get the energy to do. You do not want to focus on the process, you want to focus on the result you are aiming for. If you focus on the result, parts of your subconscious will supply the little steps that are required to make that happen so long as you have some understanding of what those steps are. It is much the same as moving your arm. You intend to grab something. You do not intend to lift your shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand in order to extend your arm and then close your fingers.
The same thing applies to the metaphysical energies. His intent in this case is not to suppress his spirit energy. His intent is to make his spirit energy undetectable to the gnomes who are in this area, especially the one who will come past here soon.
With this image in mind, he allows his mind to drift. First, it goes through the earth meditation, calming his mind and removing the tensions that would agitate his spirit energy, making it harder to control and easier to pick up by others.
Next, his mind passes through the water phase of the meditation. He allows his spirit to become like a still like, not even allowing the slightest ripple.
The fire phase comes after this. He feels the quiet flame that dwells within his soul, and envisions it as the dangerous gas flame like one would use in a science lab. One which is a shade of blue so pale as to be barely even visible, even in the dark. And then, following the demands of his greater image, that of being undetectable, this flame shifted to become even more pale, becoming fully invisible.
One might ask why it is even necessary to envision something like fire in order to hide oneself, but given this situation Levin understood it was absolutely vital to go through this phase. The fire represented the danger and the energy of life. With this fire held inside of him, it would invigorate his muscles and body even as he lay still here, and keep him in a state of readiness to move when he needed to instead of his muscles becoming stiff as he was hiding out here.
Those three phases were only the preparation for the real work though. And the final two were the ones he wasn’t very good with yet.
First, he went through the wind phase, allowing his spirit to become as light as the air itself, easily permeable by the slightest breeze. He had to keep the earth phase in mind while using this one, otherwise he risked loosing his anchor, which would make his muscles relax too much and become unready for action. He also had to keep the fire phase in mind or risk allowing his mind to drift too much and loose perspective. His thoughts would become sluggish and he would miss his cue to move should it be required of him.
This is the stage where he had always failed in the past as he practiced this concealment meditation. But, once again, the tension of the battlefield and being in a real life-or-death situation had a way of sharpening his senses and his abilities, and worked particularly well with this combat-oriented meditation. It was like he was now seeing what this meditation was supposed to really look like for the first time, and that perspective greatly improved his performance.
Finally, there was void. This took the loss of presence in the wind phase to another level entirely. The idea at this level was for it to be as though he were not even there at all.
Really, even with the battlefield, he did not truly understand the void phase. Perhaps it was still beyond him. And, with his true intent having already been decided to be that he should keep hidden from the gnomes, he immediately noticed the problem as he tried to use the void phase of the meditation.
He was not ready for it, and even attempting the void phase was making the previous 4 phases fall apart.
Realizing this, he backed off and began once again focusing on wind. It seemed this is where he would have to stop. He would make his presence light, as the wind. He is as the air in this space, invisible and undetectable unless and until he decides to move. So long as he remains still, no one will even notice he is there.
It is not the perfect concealment he would have access to with the void level of the concealment meditation, but with a target that is distracted and not actively looking for him it should be enough.
As he was running through this process of suppressing his spirit, he also grew conscious of another powerful spirit coming closer to them. It was the gnome they were targeting. It was approaching closer and closer, and in the distance he heard the rustling of fabric.
It spoke to the sound absorbing qualities of the dirt path that he could hear the person’s clothing before their foot-falls, but it probably figured with just how much clothing these gnomes really wore. They had been told, the fabric itself is infused with the blood of magic-using creatures, and it augments the gnomes’ earth magic power. In order to boost their power as much as possible, they had layered as much fabric on themselves as they could while still retaining their mobility.
In this case, though, the layers of fabric had proven a weakness. It was very hard to move without causing the fabric layers to scrape against themselves. This created a sound that was very slight, but could be easily heard in this nearly silent part of the city.
Tia pushed herself up slightly. He could see her getting prepared to move. She was like a predator ready to strike… no, she was not ‘like’ a predator. She really was one in this instance, and this gnome was her prey. She sat silent at the ready in a pouncing position. Levin could not see the gnome, but at some point they must have crossed some invisible line that Tia had decided upon.
Levin just barely caught her rising into a standing position. The next thing he knew, she was no longer there. He was not sure if the emotion of shock he felt was from him, at having missed Tia’s movement entirely, or if it was being picked up from the sensory aspect of his fire meditation and he was sensing the shock of the gnome at suddenly having the elven incarnation of a divine leech appearing out of nowhere in the middle of his path. Either way, that sense of shock was the only thing Levin was even able to perceive of the events that took place next.
He assumed she must have effectively grappled the target, as she had planned. By the time he stood up to see what was happening, she was jumping into the air, aimed in the direction of the giant tree. Her rapid ascent into the air had been slowed by the force of gravity, and she was holding a red robed figure by the head. The gnome was batting ineffectually at Tia, and kicking their feet, putting up a completely ineffectual struggle.
Her arm moved forward at such a high speed that Levin didn’t even see it. One moment her arm was drawn back, and as though he were seeing a movie that had skipped a frame, her arm was in the position of having just finished a throw not even a second later, and the red lump of humanoid fabric that was the gnome was no longer there.
There was a loud collision and cracking sound.
Levin ran out from the hiding spot in order to get a view of Asaren’s tree, and saw one of the branches on the upper canopy had been broken.
“Alright, let’s move before they figure out where we are!” Rolwen said in a low urgent tone as he grabbed Levin by the shoulder.
Levin continued to stare at the tree. He was a bit concerned. That tree was where Asaren was. Her fortress she was using to defend herself against the gnomes. Tia had apparently just damaged it. Would this be ok?
“Levin!” Rolwen said with a bit more urgency.
Tia was running back to them at the moment. She would be back here soon.
“Levin! We have to move! Now!” Rolwen shook him.
He finally managed to snap out of it and shook his head to clear out the fog.
“Right.” He said with a nod.
He allowed Rolwen to drag him toward an alley to get away from this location quickly, and Tia was quick to follow them.
Five gnomes down, seven to go.
