Chapter 51 – Illusions

Sal sat cross-legged on the large recliner in the Sky Lounge. It was the premium study area that he had seen on his way to the Skill Registration when they first started. The views were incredible, with towering glass panes that revealed the cityscape as far as Sal could see. Huge energy barriers reached into the sky to create a grid-like wall in the distance.

They’d be coming close to one of those barriers in the days to come as the Reclaimed Zones had been recently liberated from the demons. It wasn’t difficult to determine which areas had been freshly reclaimed, because the buildings that might have once been skyscrapers were now husks of their former glory. In time, they’d be developed into something habitable by the restoration guilds, but as they were now, they stood as a testament to the ravages of the demon war.

Barry sat opposite him in the same cross-legged position and went through the instructions again.

“When you activate the power, it’s going to draw on your mind. Half-thoughts and concepts will try to materialize and it will feel overwhelming at first. Keep your eyes closed and put your hand out in front of you. I want you to imagine a ball resting in your palm. Visualize the details of it, but don’t tell us what it looks like. You won’t need to channel too much power to manage it, so just give it a trickle of essence.”

Before Sal closed his eyes to follow Barry’s instructions, he saw Divinity on another recliner across from them with her arms folded. The disapproving look she wore made her stance on Sal’s decision very clear. He wanted to try Barry’s method for image training, especially if it could eventually allow him to do sleep training.

Sal wasn’t naïve, though; it would take a lot of time and effort to get even close to that sort of thing. Divinity hadn’t offered to coach or guide him with knowledge of the future, so he guessed that he’d have to learn through trial and error.

Sal closed his eyes and activated Barry’s weave. It had been a pain to replicate as it was ridiculously complex in structure, but he managed it after a few attempts. When Sal pushed his essence through the weave, it activated and sent a lurching sensation of vertigo through his entire body. Before Sal could topple to one side in a daze, Barry’s hands found his shoulders and kept him upright.

“Too much essence. Put in about five percent of what you’ve just activated.”

Barry’s tone was reassuring, and Sal was genuinely surprised at how encouraging he was as a teacher.

Pulling back the essence, Sal followed the instructions and let a tiny fraction of his essence enter the weave. The lurching sensation evaporated, and Sal felt like he was back in control of his own body. With a nod to Barry that he was fine, he focused on the next part of the test and imagined a ball resting in his palm. Sal decided on a purple ball with white circles on its surface. It was easy to visualize, and Sal wondered what the next instruction was going to be.

“Excellent work, Sal. You’re doing great. Keep your eyes closed for now, and carefully move onto the next step. You went with a purple ball with white circles, but only across the surface area you can see. I want you to imagine the ball elevating over your palm and rotating in front of you.”

Barry sounded happy with the progress, which spurred Sal on. He did as he was told and was surprised at how difficult it was to visualize the sequence of circles on the ball. Sal’s solution was to rotate it slowly and add a new circle manually with his mind. The elevation and rotation weren’t an issue; the pattern on the shape was what gave him grief.

“In time, you’ll be able to make texture maps that you can apply to your illusions. They’re like skins that you can recycle for different things. Right now, though, you’re creating one from scratch and it’s going to feel painstakingly slow because you’re wrapping it on a curved surface. Try keeping the ball moving, but instead of white circles, make white lines that are equal width apart. Lines will be easier to connect.” Barry guided Sal excitedly. His voice betrayed how much he was enjoying the lesson.

Sal couldn’t tell whether Barry was eager to talk about his ability with someone, or whether he just had a knack for teaching people. Either way, he was a surprisingly decent mentor and offered advice at a manageable pace. Sal wondered whether he would be this patient with someone learning how to use the Appraisal skill. He hoped he would as he thought back to the Crafting class where he helped the students with their patterns. It had been a fun experience to teach others, and he wondered whether Barry felt the same way about this.

“Don’t get distracted… the ball will distort if you let your mind wander too much. Eventually, you’ll do this subconsciously, but at the start you need to dedicate a lot of concentration to keeping them active.”

When Sal nodded in understanding, Barry continued.

“So, you’ve made a ball. How confident do you feel about making this ball instantly if I asked you to make one on your left hand?”

To answer his question, Sal raised his left hand and imagined a duplicate of the ball in his right hand. A laugh from Barry indicated that he had been successful. It barely pulled any of his essence to create the two of them, and he wondered just how efficient the ability was in its essence consumption.

“Excellent. Now, keep those two thoughts in mind as we go to the harder part of the test. Keep imagining the balls in your hands as you open your eyes.” Barry’s voice held a slight tremor of trepidation as he spoke.

Sal pushed all other thoughts out of his head as he focused only on the balls in his hands. He visualized the room and the space they were in and slowly opened his eyes. Instead of looking at Divinity or Barry, Sal focused on the balls in his hands and their image. He was greeted with a single rotating ball over his right hand and its twin resting in the palm of his left hand. He was sure they would disappear if he looked away from them, so he continued to visualize them as much as possible.

“Incredible progress. Okay, here’s your next test. Keep visualizing them, but raise your hands.” Barry was clearly excited, but Sal didn’t have the mental capacity to acknowledge it or feel proud of himself.

It was taking all his concentration just to keep the illusion active. Following Barry’s instruction, Sal elevated both of his palms and expected them to phase straight through the illusion. To his great surprise, the balls moved with his hands. The levitating one was now much higher in the air, and Sal raised his hand up before lowering it down, watching the ball follow his movements.

Barry shook his head, a wide smile on his face. “Okay, you’re a fast learner. I’ll give you that. You instinctively mapped your illusions to your hands, so rather than them appearing in the space you specified, they’re anchored to your movements. Remember how I threw the knife into the crowd earlier? I want you to throw one of the balls, but imagine that it is no longer tethered to your hand. It’ll require you to visualize its trajectory.”

Divinity perked up from her seat. “You threw a knife into a crowd!”

Barry waved his hand at her like it was nothing and focused on Sal. “There are two likely outcomes here. Just to prepare you for the failure. When you sever the connection, the ball will remain static and you won’t be able to move it around with your hand anymore. Second, you might lose control completely and the illusions will disappear. Both of these are normal and come down to a lack of control. I don’t expect you to be able to do it on your first try, so don’t get discouraged, okay?”

Barry was unrecognizably supportive, almost to the point that Sal was suspicious of his motives.

Sal concentrated on the invisible essence that connected the illusion to his hands. It took him a few attempts to visualize it, but it was much easier on his right palm with the elevated ball. The thought of being able to throw the ball was combining three actions all at the same time.

Rather than overthinking it, Sal thought it would be best to fail fast by just trying it out. He could always try again later.

Sal focused on bringing his left hand back and made a throwing action with his hand. It was more of a toss, and he severed the connection from his hand to the ball and imagined the trajectory going across the room.

Divinity gasped as the ball left Sal’s hand and flew through the air.

Barry grinned as a small trash can appeared on the floor, catching the ball perfectly. “Bull’s-eye!”

Sal could only stare in shock, not sure how he had managed to do it on his first attempt. He frowned at Barry. “Are these my illusions or yours?”

Barry put up his hands defensively and gave Sal a genuine smile. “I promise on my powers, that was all you. I just put in the trash can for a bit of flair at the end.” Barry paused for a moment to look over at Divinity. “He’s picking this up way faster than I had expected. I’m thinking we should speed things up.”

Divinity didn’t give him much of a reaction, but the remnants of her surprise showed in her expression. That alone warmed Sal’s heart as he played around with the illusion in his right hand.

Sal paused as a thought came to him. He looked down at his right arm and saw nothing there.

Barry followed his gaze in confusion before a broad smile broke out on his face. “Oh, you mean this?” Barry twisted his arm and a series of green runes appeared from his wrist to his elbow, all rotating in an unknown sequence.

“It’s an illusion, too. There’s no visible indicator of when I use my ability, so I created one. Thought it might be a good trump card for the future. Casting illusions without any sign that it’s coming from me.”

Divinity let out an exasperated sigh. “Is there anyone you actually trust? You sound more and more shady every time we talk to you.”

She looked over to Sal for support, but he understood where Barry was coming from. It gave him a competitive advantage if people didn’t know when he activated his powers.

Barry shrugged and gestured at the ball floating in front of Sal. “I’m literally showing you both how I control my power, and you’re going to learn all the limitations that come with it. Isn’t that a huge sign of trust?”

Divinity faltered, which made Barry’s smile even wider.

Sal, on the other hand, experimented with changing the anchor between his palms. Rather than having the ball rooted to one or the other, he tried to imagine a space that acted as the anchor, like a large magnet that could pull the ball back if it got too far. He wasn’t sure what it would do, but he was curious about it. The intent was there, but it required more essence that Sal happily fed through the weave.

Barry was about to continue when the illusionary ball shot out of Sal’s hand and started to bounce around an invisible space. Sal panicked and tried to tie the anchor back to himself, but he forgot to specify his hand. The ball latched onto his essence and orbited around him. He couldn’t see the ball when it moved behind him, but he knew it was there as he still had a firm visualization of it. When he glanced over at Barry with a sheepish grin, he was met with an astonished expression.

“You’re able to control it without looking at it? Already?” Barry got to his feet and watched the ball moving behind Sal’s back.

Sal nodded slowly and attempted to explain what he tried to do.

Barry sighed as he looked over at Divinity. “Is this how it felt when he used your power?”

Divinity laughed and shot Sal an apologetic look. “Something like that. He’s a fast learner.”

Barry sat down heavily and crossed his arms, staring at Sal without saying anything. Eventually a smile reappeared as he shook his head.

“Okay then. Today’s lesson was for you to be able to throw the ball, and I was half expecting you not to get as far as visualizing it with your eyes open. I can see that we need to refine your pacing, so I’ll increase my expectations.”

Sal felt a sense of dread at how Barry was speaking.

“I hope you’re prepared.” Barry’s words had never sounded more threatening.