Chapter 4: Reconciliation

 

“Y-Yeah. You mentioned it when we met. Is your memory fading, old man?” Syro jabbed.

Haneo muttered to himself. “Is it the hair? It’s gotta be the white hair, right?” Then he cleared his throat and spoke to Syro. “Virtue is a weapon--”

“Like the bat?”

“SHH!” Haneo said. “Simply put, Virtue is life energy. It is mainly used as a weapon, some use it for just protection.”

“Oh, I get it. So that school you were trying to get me to join is about harnessing this life juice.”

“...Energy,” Haneo corrected. “And yes. You’re…taking this information pretty well. This isn’t super common knowledge.”

“I was aware that there were weird things about this world. So this isn’t anything crazy to me,” Syro shrugged. Haneo furrowed his brow.

“R-Right,” he said. “Anyway, there are five techniques when it comes to using Virtue. First off, be aware all living beings contain their own Virtue. Their own capacity. The main technique that’ll get you familiar with Virtue is the Virtue shield. It is your main source of protection.”

“Does this do anything with my capacity? Like, with how strong my shield is?” Syro asked. Haneo pointed at him and grinned.

“Great question. No, your shield strength depends on how skilled you are as a Virtuser--”

“Wh--”

“A ‘Virtue user’. Now, it takes no Virtue out of your capacity to create a Virtue shield, because it stays with you. And when you lower it, it just goes back into your body. However, when it is broken, however much Virtue you used to create the shield is gone from you until it is replaced through recharge.”

“And recharge is?”

“Let’s begin with creating a Virtue shield first. I’m sure this is a lot of information to take in at once,” Haneo said. “Best way I can help you connect with your Virtue is to tell you to connect with everything living around you. Feel them breathing. Me, the grass, the trees, insects, animals…”

Syro closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to slowly inhale and exhale with a consistent rhythm. With his eyes closed, he felt Haneo standing before him, the grass swaying in the breeze beneath him along with the leaves on the trees, the branches, the trees themselves. It didn’t take long for him to feel as if he was one with everything around him.

“Now, shield yourself from everything.”

“What?” Syro opened one eye.

“Imagine all of those things coming to attack you. Including me.”

“That doesn’t seem--”

Haneo lunged at him, attempting to punch Syro. Syro dodged and glared at the teacher. “What the hell, old man?”

“I’m just teaching you the way I learned. Preserving oneself is the key to unlocking your Virtue shield,” Haneo explained. “And the best way for that is for you to stand your ground instead of evading.”

“Dodging is how I preserve myself.”

A breeze of wind that caused Syro’s heart to jump. He covered his face and blocked, but nothing hit him. He peeked in front of him to see just the forest. Haneo disappeared.

“Not if your opponent is faster than you.”

The voice caused Syro’s stomach to drop. This time he wasn’t able to dodge as Haneo punched him in the kidney, sending his face into the dirt and grass.

“Get up,” Haneo commanded. “You need to protect yourself. I’m only attacking you. Not the grass, not the trees, not the animals. You. Preserve you.”

Haneo came at him again. Instead of dodging, Syro stood his ground and thought about preserving himself. But as Haneo got too close, he gave up and blocked instead. Haneo punched through his block and sent him skidding across the grass. Without Haneo needing to say anything, Syro got to his feet again and prepared himself. Haneo took his time approaching Syro this time, throwing off when he was expecting an attack. Suddenly, Haneo disappeared again and punched Syro in the rib, dropping him.

Syro got to his feet and closed his eyes. He didn’t know when Haneo was coming again, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t get stuck on the idea of Haneo attacking him because the next person to attack him, the shield might not work for. In a matter of seconds, he opened his eyes to see Haneo’s fist in his face, but a glowing barrier of green energy between them. Syro activated his Virtue shield. 

Haneo beamed and said nothing. He was undoubtedly proud of the kid. “Fast learner, huh? Cool.”

“I did it?!”

“You sure did,” Haneo confirmed. He cocked his head to the side. “Green. Touchmutator, eh? Interesting.”

Haneo disappeared again and appeared from above, kicking Syro over the head, knocking him down and shattering his shield. 

“What the hell?!” Haneo shouted.

Syro got up slowly to see Haneo with a red glowing shield around him. Haneo was busy glancing around the forest around them. The trees within a 10-yard radius around them had been leveled. Syro furrowed a brow as his teacher.

“How’d you do that?”

“That…uh, sometimes I forget to hold back. Apologies,” Haneo said. Sweat beads had formed on his tan forehead, but he didn’t elaborate further. “S-So, I’ve just shattered your shield. Next thing I’m going to teach you is the Virtue recharge. Or Virtue generation.”

“Okay…”

“For this, you just connect to everything around you like with the shield, except you ignore that step about everything trying to attack you,” Haneo explained.

“So, it sounds like you already taught me how to recharge before I learned how to bring up the shield,” Syro pondered.

“Precisely, but since you were at full capacity, it didn’t make sense for you to learn to recharge first,” Haneo said.

“How could you tell I was at capacity?”

“Think about your Virtue capacity like a bottle of water. Once it’s at the top, you can’t add more to it. It just overflows,” Haneo informed.

“So what would happen to the excess Virtue?”

“It would just flow into the wind. You wouldn’t be able to use any of it, unless you found a way to siphon it,” Haneo said. Syro nodded and stood still, closing his eyes and focusing on everything around him like before. He slowly felt more complete as he took time to recharge his Virtue back to full. His green Virtue reappeared and slowly flowed around him as he regained full Virtue capacity. 

Haneo looked down at the grass, then slightly furrowed his brow before speaking. “Syro, I need you to promise me something.”

“We just met, old man. Why would I--”

“Promise me you won’t show restraint. Promise me you’ll never hesitate.”

“What are you talking about? Where’s this coming from?”

“I know you’re a kind soul, but showing restraint and hesitation will get you and others killed. This world is unforgiving.”

Syro didn’t respond. Haneo continued to stare at the grass until something alerted him to look up. 

“Time to go. I see the ginger criminal.”

“What? How?”

“Just trust me kid. Let’s go.”

“But, wait. What about the other three? You said there were five.”

“You won’t need them.”

 

The ginger approached a rich looking lady with a purse and a bunch of shopping bags and opened his mouth to speak when he heard someone shout.

“HEY!”

He turned to see Syro and Haneo running at him at full speed. Recognizing them, he bolted for the center of town. He believed there’d be more people, but as he got closer, shoving past what few citizens there were, he realized he wouldn’t be able to use a crowd to his advantage. There was no crowd. 

He slowed his sprint to a light jog then stopped on one of the many small bridges over a creek in the middle of town. Syro and Haneo stopped behind him. Syro turned around to speak to his teacher, but his teacher was bent over, panting, and held a finger up. Then he took a big gulp, stood straight up and put his hands on his hips.

This is the same old man that moved faster than I could see? Syro thought. 

“What do you want?” the criminal asked the two. Syro frowned.

“The money you took from the store back. I want you to come in and fix the damages yourself. I want you to--”

“I didn’t want to do any of that. I already told you why,” the criminal said. “And I’m not doing anything you want, so now what?”

Syro noticed him tightly grip his bat. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Then come work at the store.”

“What?”

“Yeah, what?” Haneo echoed.

“You say you’re doing this for your sick mother and sister. I will try and convince Mr. Sayid to give you a job at the cafe,” Syro explained. “Though, he’d probably have you clean up the mess.”

The criminal grit his teeth. “Stop tryna help me, you little shit.”

“What’s your name, man?” Syro asked. The criminal’s hand began shaking from how tightly he was gripping the bat.

“Pital.”

“I can show you the ropes at the shop, Pital.”

“Kid, you’re supposed to be kicking his ass right about now,” Haneo intervened. Syro waved him off. 

“Just how naïve are you?” Pital questioned. “You wanna just help some random stranger who beat you up and robbed you?”

“Well, you had a reason for doing so. Must’ve felt you had no other choice,” Syro sympathized. “Although, I ultimately don’t agree with the decision you made, we all make mistakes.”

“I want you to leave me alone. If you’re not taking me in, then fuck off.”

“I’m just trying to help. I’ve been where you--”

Pital yelled and rushed at him with the bat clutched in both hands. His wild, but powerful swing missed as Syro dodged and Haneo backed up to the end of the small bridge. “Not everyone can be saved, brat. Not everyone wants to be saved.”

“You think you’re beyond it?”

“What?” Pital said, turning to face Syro who was now where he stood. 

“Do you think you’re beyond saving?” 

“It…doesn’t matter,”Pital said, looking at the wooden planks that made up the bridge. Haneo smirked, noticing Pital’s mannerisms. 

“You came for revenge, right? Then let’s settle this,” Pital said, double clutching the bat again. Syro stood his ground as Pital rushed him again. Pital flinched for an instant as he realized Syro wasn’t moving, but he swung with full force anyway as Syro summoned his Virtue shield. 

The bat clashed with the shield and the repulsion from contact sent Pital flying back towards where Haneo stood. The bat fell into the creek and Syro hopped over the edge to grab it. He was able to stop it before it moved past the underside of the bridge. He walked up to Pital, who was still on the ground and amazed at what just happened.

“What the hell was that? What did the old man do to you?” Pital questioned. His voice was shaking. Syro squinted at Haneo and Haneo slightly shrugged and cocked his head to the side. 

“Not everyone knows. But, the knowledge is available to the public. But, I’m not surprised THIS…” Haneo stomped on Pital’s wrist. The criminal let out a howl. “Piece of shit doesn’t know what Virtue is.”

“What are you doing?” Syro demanded to know.

“Tell him.”
Pital winced as Haneo slightly adjusted his shoe on his wrist. “I…made it up.”
Syro’s heart dropped. “You…what?”

“I don’t have a sick mother or sister. I don’t have either. I made it up so you’d feel bad and wouldn’t come after me,” Pital confessed. “How the hell was I supposed to know you’d try to change me? It worked on others and I got by taking from others.”

“How’d you know?” Syro asked Haneo.

“The way he avoided talking about his imaginary family since he brought them up originally in the store with you,” Haneo said. “I’m not old, but I’ve lived. And through living, I’ve gotten pretty good at telling when someone is lying.”

“So…now what? You gonna find a clan to take me to? Take me to the Counsellor?” Pital asked as Haneo removed his shoe from his wrist. Pital sat up and rubbed at it as he waited for Syro’s answer.

“Are…are you willing to change, at least?” Syro asked. His eyes were wide. Glassy. Pital sneered at him.

“Change? Haha! Hell no. I like what I do. It beats working. Makes the most sense for me to be thief, not good at anything else--”

Haneo shoved his hand through Pital’s chest. His face was unfeeling. Cold. He coddled Pital’s head as life drained from him, then gently laid him down on the bridge. Syro began to tear up.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Syro. You heard him,” Haneo said. “Why hang on to him or whatever he’s said? He’d only continue to hurt people and their livelihood.”

“But--”

“And you showed restraint and hesitated. After what we just discussed? You could have handled that fight much easier and faster by just beating him up,” Haneo said. He walked off the bridge and approached the creek underneath, crouching down. He jabbed his hands in the cool, clear water as Syro walked up to him from behind.

Syro watched as the deep red blood transferred from Haneo’s hand to the now polluted stream. “Kid, what are your philosophies?”

Still shaken up, Syro stayed silent for a second before answering. Seeing the blood on Haneo’s hand made his mind shoot back to the obliteration of Dexith. The red reminded him, not only of the mass amount of blood among the human carcasses, but the fiery red sky that night. 

“I value life.”

“Are you a pacifist?” Haneo questioned. 

“No.”

“So you’re willing to fight, but won’t kill. You know what I call that?” Haneo said. He was blankly staring in the river at his own reflection. “Delusion.”

Haneo then stood and flicked his fingers at the body of water before turning to face Syro. “But you’re welcome to prove me wrong. I encourage it. Come with me to OAVL.”

“You think showing me how to protect myself with some magical shield and killing a redeemable stranger is enough to convince me?” Syro questioned.

“How about this,” Haneo began. “There are people in this world that would do anything to hurt the people that occupy it. If you really want to get by protecting others without killing, then you need to be stronger than the killers.”

Silence.

“Hell, morally, I’d say you already are.”

More silence.

“Here’s a dark take, but I’m putting it plainly: it takes a lot longer to beat someone into submission than it does to slit their throat open.”

Continued silence before it was Syro’s turn to speak. “But my job--”

“The job? The job will be there if you choose not to pursue learning more about Virtue. If you truly value life, you’ll come to OAVL and train. Learning how to use Virtue so that tragedy with Dexith never happens again,” Haneo said, picking up Pital’s special bat. Syro stayed silent, waiting for Haneo to continue. “Go home and pack. You’ll be moving to the OAVL building and living with your teammates the entire time you’re in the academy. Meet me here tomorrow at the break of dawn.”

Syro walked away and headed home, leaving Haneo standing in front of Pital’s cold corpse.