Zaraya Zarachi

It doesn't take a genius to realise I have a stalker. Not a stalker in a creepy mysterious way but a person who wants to meet me and is willing to go through a lot of pain to do so. No one follows Ragnar's regiment so diligently without an expectation of eventual reward, and I have designed Ragnar's daily schedule such that no one would understand it's creative genius and varsetile purpose in training so it's unlikely he's doing it to improve himself.

I immediately try find out all I can about him, his origins, what he would know about me. It's initially quite the mystery, what would such a young man who wasn't even born when I left the world from a continent that has never been visited by the Order want to do with me? A man who traveled straight from home to Igenda by the straightest path between Sandoria and Pangaea under the Undine Seas.

It turned out these tribal people known as the Barbarians are a new ally recruited into the folds of the conclave only recently by a member of the conclave named Asriel. I have fond memories of Asriel as he tried to please me with his hard work and enthusiasm. I think he may have even had a little crush on me in his 20's and 30's, always so serious and quick to want to prove himself. I trained him for 20 years and I think he was better for it, didn't learn to calm down as much as I would have liked but still he took up drawing.

So a Barbarian young man who had likely met my Asriel is following Ragnar's regiment in order to meet with me. I start changing Ragnar's regiment a bit faster than I had initially planned, making it more and more difficult, adding the things the Barbarian is especially bad at. I meet with Ragnar only when the Barbarian isn't around which isn't easy because Ragnar keeps saying 'you just missed her' whenever he asks about me making him paranoid about sticking close to Ragnar as often as possible.

It's curious how this Sachihiro will react to a regiment that is designed to help Ragnar Awaken regardless of the curse placed upon him and his people. The massages, the acupuncture, the meditation, the god-dream tent time every day, all of it is designed to help him loosen into what he was meant to be.

Ragnar is an interesting specimen, a warrior through and through, 66 years old, which is considered old for his people that struggle because of the cold climate and the cunning beasts that hunt his homeland.

A people that have an average lifespan of 60 years old because very few amongst them have ever Awakened in their history and all those that have didn't have the berserker rage curse the majority do. It's the berserker curse blocking their awakenings, it's an unnatural rage that blocks meridians.

It has been interesting watching how Silo and Sachihiro have been reacting to a regiment that was designed for a person that has their meridians crippled from birth. The scholars have been besides themselves with the initial results observed.

Ragnar is responding as expected and is about ready to go into a meditation circle designed to be a mana condensation circle and Awaken into whatever he will Awaken as. The man has been at the cusp of Awakening for years but never would have had he not been recruited to the conclave, and a lot more of his people are still in his cold homeland many at the cusp of Awakening but bottlenecked by their curse, what a waste. The recruiters report very few of the Mare are willing to leave their lands so it's the conclave that will have to establish itself in Culla, what an opportunity.

Silo is easy to examine and I've been following his progress diligently since he began the regiment with Ragnar. The young man has been steadily getting a greater and greater saturation of ether into his system somehow increasing the likelihood of him Awakening and decreasing the time it will be before that happens.

Erika and Eronica are very excited about the possibility of having a training regiment that increases the likelihood of Awakening and decreasing the time it takes to achieve that benchmark. Kids born on Omega Awaken by the time they are 12 or 13 years old so it isn't such a big surprise to me that there are programs and diets that can be designed to help accelerate Awakening but here on Gaia its a struggle to Awaken and most human people only achieve it in their 60's or 70's if they've worked diligently enough, 80's or 90's if they've lived their lives not obsessively pursuing Awakening.

So imagine if we had a training program that promoted ether affinity in people from a young age. If Erika's initial projections are correct most of our people will be Awakening at the tender age of 30 or 40 instead of waiting so much longer. I focused my attention on the Tribesmen though as my curiosity is peaked.

For instance Om, Cyrus's disciple has a deep sleeping well of power that is only evident when you examine him while he's in the berserker rage. And his berserker isn't even a rage, I've seen the young man seem to fill the room with his presence as though he were using a skill. He almost becomes a different person when in the berserker seeming more confident, more sure of himself and less worried about things. He doesn't get angry like I've seen the other berserkers become, he himself hadn't said he was in the Rage I doubt I'd have known from just looking at him.

His counterpart Ava is completely different, I challenged her to a private spar where I told her to go into the Rage. It's cute how she hesitated worried that she could kill me if she let herself go that far. I let her realise how much more skilled and powerful I am in all facets of combat than she is and I eventually got to see her Rage.

It's completely different to Om's who becomes a cool collected person with a heavy presence but whom you can still have an intellectual conversion with. Ava just becomes an animal that's out for blood and won't be satisfied with anything less. Her speed is doubled and her stamina is admirable but she loses almost all her defensive capabilities which would be a clean death against a superior warrior, her vitality is off the charts though and the damage she can take before found down is inhuman. I've since then challenged 3 more Tribesmen in my curiosity and experiment and they all have different berserker rages but the common trait so far is increased power, speed, aggression and vitality.

Except Om, when Om went berserker we actually had a conversation instead of fight so I'm not exactly sure how much more physically enhanced he is in that state.

All the Tribesmen have different specialties as well. The is one named Gaia who is just a powerhouse with the axe and shield, having the basics in aura down and has a spirit ability, spirit cleanse . Then there is Asger with his love for the spear and his aura honing abilities, then Ava who devastates with her pole-arm, has the aura stabilize ability, aura enhance ability and can release her raw chakra out when she fights. Then there is this Sachihiro kid.

The Barbarians aren't wholely human anymore for whatever was done to them many generations ago. They are mostly human and have all the biology of a human but their blood has certain markers that are usually found in beasts and lack some markers usually found in normal humans. They are now a species of human that is unique by blood to the rest of humanity and they are so much closer related to orcs than is initially obvious by just observing them.

When I first started looking into this Sachihiro kid I was fascinated by him and his people. I can't use examine directly on him without him knowing about it because of his spirit shielding , a skill that is apparently common amongst the barbarian people known as Seers. A type of shielding that prevents passive magical, chakra, or psionic examination dead in it's tracks.

But which he is yet to develop into that stage of speciality. The kid has other abilities that no one seems to be aware of as he keeps them under wraps like he likes to do that pole-arm he keeps on his back. Spirit oppression , a skill he used in his spar with Volvox that oppresses his opponents spirit and psyche planting doubts in his opponents sapping their mental strenght and spiritual strenght. Spirit cleanse , a skill that cleanses all illusionary magic and outside influence that's been placed on him from an external source, even letting him endure a conversation with Cyrus without any noticeable discomfort. Spirit sense , an ability that let's him sense the spiritual energy of the people and creatures around him almost like everyone else senses aura. And all this I know through Shea, the only person he has of yet willingly let examine him deeply enough to sense some of his abilities.

The kid's spiritual energy is so much stronger than a person of his age and power should be, and spirit energy isn't something you can just train into having high levels of. It usually comes with age or just naturally depending on the person. I've been watching them following my regiment for the past 20 days now and I think its time I met the kid in person. And it's definitely time Ragnar started his Awakening..

 

I walk to were they've been meeting every morning and they are already here getting ready to go collect herbs for Swasha and Isis.

"No need for that today." I say coming smoothly into their view and senses. Ragnar grunts in surprise at my appearance but calms quickly, Silo already has a dagger out and is slightly crouched, Sachihiro doesn't seem to have been startled at all at first glace by then I notice the colour of his eyes has specks of silver that are slowly fading, interesting.

"I'm Zaraya, who might you be?" I ask him as we clasp forearms in a warriors greeting, he feels the throwing needles strapped to my forearm but doesn't comment.

"I'm Sachihiro of the Norse Tribe of The Barbarian people. It is an honour to finally meet you Master Zaraya." He says with a slight bow of his head.

I nod and look at the other two men. "Ragnar, its about time you Awakened. Head to the meditation building and see Grandmaster Watson, she should have everything prepared I will be there shortly.

"Silo, it's to the scholars for you, Master Raven would like a word, then your day is yours to do as you see fit." They both nod and leave immediately and I'm left with the tall handsome young man with the many hidden talents.

"So why have you been looking for me Sachihiro?" I ask as I loop my arm into his and we start walking towards the southeast exit.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" He asks and I give him a look for that one.

"I've been looking into you, wondering why you'd want to meet me."

"Did you come up with any possibility?" He asks smoothly as we walk through the morning crowd of the compound.

I don't think I've had a conversation like this in a while, I expected him to be a bit flustered actually not interrogating me. We talk for a little while as we leave the compound and walk deep into the mist and the woods. "How is Asriel doing?" I ask as we've already established how this young man would even know about me.

"I haven't seen him in something like 4 to 5 years but last I saw him he was well. I mean we were both still traumatized at the time from going through the forging but he was as well as he could be."

"Yes, these soul weapons of yours are very interesting concepts. I can actually feel that all your weapons except the dagger in your boot are spirit bound to you. How did such a young man gain such wealth?"

He tells me of the events that took place with his people as we sit on a fallen tree and continue our conversation, he even mentions a deity that blessed him with the blessing of tongues which he subsequently had his children receive. He talks of Asriel and how his training began with him. Honestly the Asriel he talks about I can hardly recognise, but then again I have been away many years.

After his story he surprises me by kowtowing to me trice, "please take me as your disciple." He says with his head to the floor humbling himself to me.

"Why?" I ask genuinely surprised.

"I want to be the best possible self I can be while archiving the most with my training and ability. Besides, I want what you have, I want to Awaken as my best possible self and Awaken as you did, with the Universe or whatever directing me instead of my own short sighted perceptions or lacking imagination limiting me."

"I see..." I say trying to think of that, very selfish reasons. "I will have to think about it, I already have two other disciples besides Ragnar at the moment."

"I will be going home in a few months, please take your time in making a final decision." He says as he gets off the forest floor.

"Whats the other reason for wanting me as a Master?" I ask because I can see there is more to it than that. My truth sense , a psionic ability tells me so.

He grins, "because you are an Ascendant." He says conspiraciously. There's a slight moment of silence between us.

"Let me look at you." I say and immediately his shielding disappears an he is bare before me as I use Aware Examination on him.

 

Sachihiro van Damage

‎
‎ Class : ---

Specialty : Master Swordsman, Expert Axeman, Justus Spearman, Justus Unarmed combatant.

Health : 99%

Mana : --

Stamina : 100%

Vitality : 100%

Endurance : 100%

Strength : 100%

Agility : 100%

Perception : 100%

Reaction : 98%

Resistance : currently 0

Willpower : 100%

Inteligence : 100%

Wisdom : 100%

Spirit : 80%

Soul : 64%

Ether : 70%

Abilities : Berserker Rage Curse, Divided Soul

Skills : Spirit Sense - justus, Aura Sense - novice, Spirit Shielding - expert, Spirit Oppression - novice, Spirit Summoning - novice, Spirit Cleanse - justus, Spirit Aura - justus.

Examining someone in this way isn't an exact science and there is absolutely no way to accurately quantify someone's affinities and abilities in a way that simplifies a person. Which is why everything seems to be a percentage to my mental perception. He is 100% healthy with 100% vitality for his body, but it doesn't mean he has more vitality than say I do when I'm at 50% vitality.

Even at 50% vitality I could still endure more damage that he could at 100% but he would be as healthy as he can be before taking that damage while I'd already be raggered.

He is also closer to Awakening that I initially thought with an ether saturation of 70%. Divided soul must be a result of the soul weapon and that 64% soul an estimate of how much he has recovered since the forging. Souls can take many years to recover from injuries so it's no surprise that after what 5 or 6 years he's still recovering. I'm surprised at how quickly he's recovering in fact.

"You're an interesting specimen Sachihiro van Damage." I say taking my hand off him.

"You know, you're the second person to pluck my full name out of the air without me telling them." He says with a question in his voice.

I ignore that remark and look at him in the eyes, "Alright Sachihiro, I'll take you on as a disciple."