Harnessing the spirit

After the horrible results of the first Kido class exercise, Arawn was more than happy to be in a classroom learning how to access his spiritual power. The classroom looked like just like the general class room with the exception of the many bookshelves that lined the room. If Arawn didn't know any better it felt more like a library than a classroom. There were no windows in this room, and it was lit with several lamps hanging from the ceiling.
Everyone took a seat among the empty desks; Arawn was near the front this time. He wanted to closer to the teacher so he wouldn’t miss anything. The instructor wasn’t the same man as before, perhaps that had been the supervisor of the target/training area. This man was quite round, but not completely without definition. He was wide in belly and waist, his voice low and soft, almost feminine. “Hello everyone I will be your instructor for this class. My name is Himora Yoichi. After your performances yesterday I’ve come up with some personalized learning plans.” He gestures to a pile of paper sitting on the podium in front of him. “But let us begin with the basics.”

The ‘Basics’ are quite short thankfully. All shinigami have reiryoku, spiritual power, which can be used in a variety of ways. One of these ways is Kido spells. Kido spells can possess numerous effects from offensive, defensive, and even healing. Spells are numbered based on difficulty from 1 to 99. The higher the number the spell holds, the greater the difficulty and to some extent power. Arawn’s eyes wander about the room eyeing the various bookshelves. Arawn raised his hand, unsure if the teacher would allow an interruption. Thankfully the teacher pauses and nods his head at Arawn’s hand, “If there are only 99 spells, why so are there so many books here?” A few students nod agreement, their thoughts reaching the same conclusion.
“Ah, while they are numbed 1 to 99, that is merely the difficulty. Numerous spells share the same ranking.” Satisfied, Arawn listens intently to the rest of the lesson. At the end the teach breaks everyone into groups; beginner, intermediate, and advanced. The beginner group is for those unable to use spiritual power. The intermediates for those than can focus their power, but unable to control it completely or accurately. The last group, the advanced group, is for those students in full command of their power. There are only four people in the advanced group, the rest of the thirty odd students are divided between the other two groups. The advanced students are given leave to study from books for low level kido spells, or take to the practice range. Arawn’s lack of skill lands him squarely in the beginner group. The group’s goal is to access their spirit power, and then they will enter the intermediate level and work on controlling it.

First were some breathing exercises, relaxing the body and mind. The reason to relax was to open the ‘subconscious limiter’. “Some people subconsciously close off their spiritual power.” The teacher explained, “So you must get yourself to relax and allow the power to flow.” The room was very quiet for the next few moments; everyone was startled by the chime for the ending of the class. “We’ll pick up on this next time. But do try to practice relaxation and your breathing in your free time.” Arawn suddenly realized they didn’t have much free time aside from the time between classes, and spent in the cafeteria. Practice would have to wait.

"Silly A-chan, we have weekends off." Yue explained, she tended to call Arawn 'A-chan' recently, he really wish she didn't. Arawn didn't bother talking with the other students; she was the only one he could ask. That aside Arawn hadn't realized they follow a calendar like the Human world. Well they did use clocks, but that doesn't mean the same time scheme is used. Not like he could go back to Earth and check.
“So what exactly can we do on the weekends?” Arawn asked. Perhaps he could get some practice time in for Kido training.
“Well...” Yue started “I guess visit Rukongai, or stay just here. But all that’s open on weekends are the practice halls and library. Me, I would just sleep.” A girl waves at Yue and she scampers off. The teacher hadn’t entered the classroom yet, but others are beginning their breathing exercises. Arawn follows suit. Whatever concentration he had mustered is lost with the class’s starting chime. The teacher claps his hands and divides the class into the previously formed groups. Arawn promptly goes back to his exercise. The few advanced students leave the room; the teacher gives them a parchment before they leave. No doubt a permission slip to visit the practice range. The beginners take the front of the room while the intermediates take the rear section. The teacher drifts between the groups.

Time seems to slow down. The silence that engulfs the room makes it pass even slower. The room feels empty; Arawn can faintly hear the teacher’s footsteps as he moves around the room. But then he shifts the focus inward. He tries to listen to his body, probe himself for the power he may be hiding. He closes his eyes and focuses. His heartbeat is all the he hears at first, it’s irregular rhythm setting the pace, his breathing starts to mirror it. He imagines the blood as it flows through his body. The heart is the core of the body, so he tries to focus from the outer parts. His left hand twitches; he envisions light shining from his hand all the way to his shoulder. Next he takes that light and has it envelop his right arm. The light then begins from the tip of his right toe all the way to his hip. His body feels more relaxed as he progresses. The left leg is covered in the light as well, and then the light moves over his abdomen. He feels a tickling sensation along his spine, but he ignores it and moves the light more. As the light in his mind covers his chest he feels a sudden coolness in the air, like a fresh breeze. The body now encased in light, only the head remains, the light creeps forward slowly. The light overtakes his neck and the tickle down his spine is gone. Finally the light has completed it’s path. In his mind he now sees himself only as a body of light, it shines brightly. It feels like he was holding his breath, his lungs screaming for air. But he was breathing, his heart beating at the same pace as before. Was this spiritual energy? It was just like breathing? He tried to grasp at the feeling in his breast, pooling it, and then breathed out. The light in his mind grew brighter and the burning feeling vanished, the was a rush of

A hand landed on Arawn’s shoulder and his eyes snapped open. The students sitting next to him were staring at him; Yue looked at him with a grin on her face. Arawn turned his head slightly to look at the owner of the hand. The teacher stood behind him with a smile similar to Yue’s.
“Well done!” his hand clapped Arawn’s shoulder “Keep that up and you’ll move on to the intermediate level.” Arawn is shocked to say the least, was he really successful? “But do be careful when with your Reiatsu, you scared the other students.”
“Reiatsu?” Arawn asked
“Ah yes, it’s when you focus you power outwards around. The air becomes thicker it can even paralyze people. But it makes it easy for anyone with spiritual senses to track and find you. Now that you know how to access your power, controlling it comes next.” The other students, somewhat inspired, turn back to their practice.
“I won’t let you leave me behind A-chan!” Yue states triumphantly, closing her eyes as well. The teacher continues after her outburst
“When using Kido, let your power build within, but don’t release it. The focus of the spell will funnel the power as needed. After much practice the build and release will come more quickly and naturally.” The hand leaves Arawn’s shoulder. Arawn closes his eyes once again. He sees the light enveloped figure of himself, it’s not as bright, but it’s there. He tries to focus it completely. The light flickers slightly, and he feels the dull ache in his chest, he lets it build. It’s not as powerful as the first time. He slowly opens his eyes, everyone is still practicing, and the feeling is still there. The feel fades, but he looks to the teacher for approval. The round man nods and smiles. “Well done. Take this weekend to practice. I don’t want you forgetting how you did it.” Arawn can only nod in agreement. He spends the rest of the class practicing, but with no progress. “Welcome to the intermediate level.” The chime comes and the class ends. Four others beside Arawn have moved to the next group, while two from the intermediate group moved to the advanced group. Yue was abit flustered to not advance, but did release a burst of reiatsu herself. Arawn was slightly excited, he had accessed his power. But it seemed controlling it would prove more difficult. At least he knew how he would spend his weekend.

The sunlight hurt his eyes as he emerged from the library. After a hearty breakfast he had shut himself into the school library to study some of the kido available. Unfortunately, he was restricted to the beginner’s section. He wondered what havoc would be unleashed if he attempted higher ranking kido without proper training. The library was mostly empty most the students had gone to Rukongai for their leisure time. The practice field that was open was different from the one of his first kido attempt. The targets in this field looked like simple cylindrical metallic posts. One of the overseers explained it was made of a material that resisted and nullified reiryoku. So in essence it couldn’t be destroyed by kido, but it did react to the spiritual energies by turning bright red. Arawn was assigned a target small area. It more like a small open roof alley. A seven foot wall sat on either side of him and the target stood a good twenty feet away. Arawn took the notes he had written from his kosode, he couldn’t remember all the spells by heart. He preformed the hand gestures first; his thumbs and index fingers touching. It seems easy enough; he moves to the next step and reads the chant from the page committing them to memory. The final step is going to be the hardest; trying to focus his reiryoku properly. He imagines the ball of light and tries to make it grow slightly. The power slowly grows and builds steadily; he readies his hand gesture aiming at the target post. He says the incantation, “I invoke Queen Mab! O fairy of sleep; open the door and invite them into dreams. Bakudo #10: Daze!” The power that was building quickly fades, expended. The post doesn’t change colors. The spell is supposed to put an enemy to sleep, if not render them unconscious. Arawn isn’t sure if the spell would react to the post at all. He tries to build up more reiyoku for his second attempt. He aims again at the target. He can’t seem to build up power quicker. “I guess I’ll try the hard way.” Unable to bring out a little power, he opts for bringing it all out. The light in his mind flares brightly and he quickly repeats the chant. “I invoke Queen Mab! O’ fairy of sleep; open the door and invite them into dreams. Bakudo #10: Daze!” The target post becomes scarlet red and Arawn stops building power. Some of it had manifested into reiatsu, but no one seems to be close enough to be bothered. “Well that’s one.” Arawn mutters, and begins building power for the next attempt. The castings that follow are successful, but Arawn is dissatisfied with his reiyoku building. He can only produce a trickle of power which isn’t enough for casting. Or he builds too much power and has it spill out into reiatsu. Sometimes he thinks he can see the golden light radiating from his body. Despite that he praises himself for the memorization and execution of his second kido spell. He checks his notes to see which he should try next.

After exertion of his energies Arawn takes a short break before working on his next skill. Since the first spell was defensive, he picks an offensive skill. This time the hand gesture is simply pointing vertically towards the sky then pointing at the target. Arawn tries to build power. As expected he can’t seem to gather as much. He attempts the spell anyway. “Thunder shake the heavens, roar and shatter the silence, blaze and split the darkness. Hado #4 :Byakurai!” His extending index finger sparks, but there is no other effect. He sighs; he had hoped he could cast without resorting to full power. It takes too much focus to achieve, to be truly effective in a battle. Arawn focuses his power fully once again and retries the chant. “Thunder shake the heavens, roar and shatter the silence, blaze and split the darkness. Hado #4 :Byakurai!” A brilliant light explodes from Arawn’s finger, the sudden flash startles him and his aim wavers. The bolt of lightning veers toward the wall. Instead of destroying the wall the bolt suddenly vanishes and the wall shines crimson. It seems the wall is made of similar substance as the target. He tries another shot, but this time braces his right arm with his left. “Thunder shake the heavens, roar and shatter the silence, blaze and split the darkness. Hado #4 :Byakurai!” This time he doesn’t waver, the white lightning lances toward the target which shines brightly once it’s hit. The red color remains a few seconds then vanishes. Arawn is impressed with the power the spell. “For a rank four difficultly that’s very potent.” He makes a note that its fast speed make is hard to dodge. “Next I’ll try a defensive spell.”

The sun is high in the sky; Arawn figures he should take a break after the next spell. Arawn studied his notes for some time trying to pick. His eyes landed on one of the spells he had read and thought had some merit. It was supposed to create a barrier to protect the caster; something to bolster his defense would be a nice addition. The gesture involved holding both hands together like praying then thrusting both palms upon the ground. In his study in the library the gestures were nearly omitted at higher skill levels. Until then Arawn was stuck doing the awkward poses. He lets his reiryoku flare up and recites the chant. “Palace of the dead sleeping within the wombs of the earth, tower above the wicked, pass your silent judgment. Hado # 7 Pillar of Hades!” He squats down and presses his hands against the earth as he finishes the chant. Half a foot from where he sits black monolith springs from the ground. The earth doesn’t break; it merely rises as if lifted. It almost looks like a stalagmite made from a smooth black substance rising eight feet into the air. Arawn stops and stares at the object. This wasn’t as he expected. Rather than a wall it’s a barely three feet wide and two feed thick narrowing towards the top. Arawn reaches his hand out and touches the surface. It feels cold and metallic on his skin. He tries to kick it, and nearly hurts his foot. “Seems like it’s solid enough.” Unlike the other spells the pillar lasts longer than the other kido he had learned. Almost on cue, the black spike breaks to pieces and vanishes as if blow by an unseen wind. Which is just as well since Arawn was wondering how he was to dispose of the thing. Best he could figure was that it had lasted nearly thirty seconds. Not much for defense, but it might be useful to stop an assault. He would have to see how strong the pillar was later. All the energy usage was tiring him out, he left to get some lunch.