Chapter 2: Call To Education Two

Tess rubbed her eyes, staring at the digital page on the various disciplines of channeling. The gentle scratch of note taking had been her entire night as she studied up on the greater field she only just dipping a toe in. 

Channeling is the science and art of manipulating metaphysical energy, with many methods to use that power. The main division is between ‘Inner Sphere’ and ‘Outer Sphere’ channeling. Inner Sphere channeling is the use of the embodied energies within one’s soul to manipulate the material plane. This is the most common with over nine in ten channelers being Inner Sphere channelers. This form of power typically involves the manipulation of material objects and beings, rather than more ephemeral and esoteric forms of existence.

Outer Sphere channeling is the manipulation of the higher and more fundamental aspects of reality to perform esoteric feats. Outer Sphere channeling is entirely made up of the many variations on shamanism, as it is vital when it comes to dealing with the ideal spirits as they are the most firmamental and fundamental sources of paracausal phenomena. 

She smiled, it was incredible how much information she had at her fingertips with her holo-caster. The wrist device on her arm created a holographic interface and it’s haptics were insanely good with the model she had. The extranet also had over fifty billion users, routed through the Void Rails that linked worlds. Tess rubbed at her nose, her knee bouncing happily as she basked in her little nook. 

Elemental Manipulation or Kinetics can be considered one of the oldest paracausal abilities, and at its simplest is the ability to control matter and energy. Controlling earth and stone, metal and plastic, water and oil, fire and plasma and lightning. A form of telekinetic control over conceptual elements and the energies they embody. The bending of the elements is one of the easiest and most common forms of Channeling. Far more so than shamanism, the invoking and coaxing of the spirits to make use of their concepts. 

She performed the exercises recommended in the online guide, and let her energies flow. It used an eastern martial art known as ch’uan, a slow and steady exercise that let one sense the movements of one’s internal energies through the nodes of the soul. Seven chakras, and one hundred and eight sub-chakras etched into the substrate of her soul. 

Tess smiled as she felt her rūh churn up and down and out, following the smooth motions of her body. Sweat wicked off her forehead, and Fire answered her desperate unspoken call. It burst to life, radiating from her hands in unstable burps of combustion and heat. 

Within seconds however the flames went wild, and her smile turned to a shameful frown, and her heart ached as she stripped the fire of metaphysical fuel. The little heartbeat, the engine of power died and she let out a frustrated scream.

“Fuck!” Tess rammed her fist into the apricot tree that was a staple of her backyard. Wood splintered and cracked, and she ignored the dull ache of her hands. 

She was close to a meltdown, and the buzzing sensation of her senses wasn't helping the matter. Her skin felt clammy and itchy, and her body was trembling as her anger and shame reached a new high. 

A soothing song struck the air, and it was buried under the current of life she saw and felt and heard. It flew through the domains of the higher realms, the song of the ideal spirits at work. They dwelled in the Outer Sphere, feeding on what had given them life to begin with. A cycle of spiritual cannibalism, mindless spirits consuming their closest kin or on other spirits compatible with their multifaceted nature. With enough time, with enough sources of power and spiritual energy they could grow to become beings like Palai-Hebi or Kukulkan.

She knew this as well as she knew her face and the pattern of her palms. Tess listened to the calming notes of the spirits, wisps of fire and heat, puffs of air, whirlwinds of sand spirits, even the silver lense of a void spirit orbited around her. This was the one gift that hadn't betrayed her, she had a way with the denizens of the spirit world. She understood them in a way that most couldn't.

But she wasn't a trained shaman, since most of them worked for Gnomon or stayed away from Elya because of its proximity to Santa Amaya. The city was built around the college. Instinct could only do much, and the lack of programs for shamans in their area had crippled her growth.

She reached out to the immaterial spirits, most spirits were like this, tiny motes of dust, wisps of concept, a whisper of ideal. Tess flinched at their chorus of questions, many of them a variation on ‘what’s wrong?’ though with differing reasons. Shame and rage spirits were eager to feed on the intense emotional highs of a spirit-touched child. Spirits of fire and heat and light worried for the beating flame within her heart. Droplets of water and air almost jeered, but their concern was still present. As a channeler, she could learn to bend water and air but with her unstable chakras, it was impossible. 

Tess certainly appreciated the sentiment. 

There was a thundering of feet, and she threw herself back when a large fucking bird stepped into her personal space. It was a Prairie Roc, seven feet, and three hundred pounds of medium mammal-eating speedsters. It was a predator that used its powerful hooked beak for tearing and hammering into prey, breaking spines and skulls with brutal force. 

“Oh fuck me… again?” This was a particularly well cared for specimen, with an illustrious pattern of browns, oranges, and speckles of black feathers.

It let out a warbling cry and her eyes widened. “Wait… what do you mean I'm late? I can’t be late!” she stomped her foot into the ground.

The bird gave her a look of disbelief, the haunting cry mocking in tone.

“Oh…” 

She started running, the bird laughing at her as she ran as a woman possessed. 

---

Tess listened intently to the recording of history class, even with the sounds of fellow students chatting away in the background. She kicked her feet back and forth, listening to Mr. Adamas as he spoke openly on the history of channelers.

“Channelers have a long history on the continent of Hanowa,” the spectacled man pointed to a map of the continent. “Our continent is rich in diversity, with rainforests on the coast to savanna corridors leading down to Aztlán, broken up by wooded mountains, canyons and local deserts. Alyeska is where the very first patterners learned to manipulate the energy within themselves, passing on their techniques to the rest of humanity over many generations. And the United States was responsible for many of the modern advances in applied metaphysics.” 

Tess wrote down more notes, mumbling to herself as she tried to be as dutiful as possible with her notes. I lost my old notes and I thought they could be useful for future classes at a college. 

Marcos Tanaka High School was one of two high schools in Elyas and had the highest concentration of patterners in the local school. It was also well known for a few well-known channelers. Which was why she wanted to go to the College of Gnomon. The local programs for channelers were terrible, and she wanted more from her life than just going through the motions with a broken power.

“You’re still studying on our last day of high school?” Tess flinched at the surprise of one of her school friends popping up in her face.

She rolled her eyes, flexing her shoulders as she fixed her gaze on the light blonde-haired nuisance. “Juliana.” 

Juliana was rather pretty, with her soft blue eyes, her wide smile, and her lithe and fit frame. Stop that, Tess commanded, biting into a spicy hen sandwich. A meal she had packed for herself since her parents had taught her how to cook. 

She chided her friend. “You know it's important if I want to enter the right school with programs for channelers. There's been a lot of progress after the Days of Iron, but…” She trailed off with a sigh, with groups like Enkidu and the Pantheon there was a lot of fear and hate.

Johannes spoke up. “I heard a few programs are opening up so channelers can use their powers in mundane jobs. Elemental Channelers could use their powers for construction and power generation. “

“How was that going?” She asked hopefully. Having a ready-set job upped her chances of using her powers in the search. 

Juliana shook her head with a wince. “Depending on where you are, on Keun Agma a few companies got sued into oblivion, here on Terre? It’s a mess of court cases within member countries and regions. In Mara, there's been a lot of scandals because of the mistreatment of channelers.” 

Fucking kill me, was Tess’ first dark thought, dropping her face into her hands. “And that's just on the planets around Khepri… fuck.” she stomped her foot, folding her hands together as she tried not to curse her life more.

Natalia butted in, her pretty lips curving into a smirk. “You could always join the Scions, I'm sure the army could use a flaky fire starter who can talk to animals.”

“I think my parents would kill me if I tried, gods even I know the optics on that aren't good.”

Natalie nodded, rolling her neck and throwing her hair back like she was a model rather than a high school girl. “My great grandmother still talks about the Day of Black Rain… an entire country being swallowed up tends to leave a bad impression.”

“You could pull in work as a shaman?” Juliana suggested, rearing back when Natalie tried to steal one of her fries. “There’s pretty high demand with all the dangerous spirits around.” Her passive but thoughtful expression made Tess think. 

She shrugged. “Maybe? I know a lot of shamans are being hired for work in Applied Metaphysics.” Tess was a curious sort, and the examination of the soul sounded like a very fitting field for someone with a broken power. Inner Sphere channeling had been conclusively linked to the presence of a soul, and over a century of research and study was being applied on the applications of that link between the Unreal and the Real. 

Tess was starting to realize that life as a channeler was even less glamorous than her already low expectations. There were a lot of events in the past that affected her present. 

She hummed, her song then weaving into her voice as thought and wondered about what her place would be in the world. To any other human, her humming would be empty of meaning, but to the spirits, it was full of stories and narratives strummed with the strings of her heart.

“Well, you’re no Cosmogony mook or western death squad trooper.” Johannes tried to reassure an anxious Tess. Damn, I must look like such a mess. “And with how good you are with spirits you've got a lot going for you.”

There was a sound of a slap and a shout that caught the attention of her friends. A handsome-faced brunette was rubbing his jaw as a girl screamed at him. Tess’ cheeks flushed at the sight of the both of them. She was practically transfixed by them, the boy with his soft features and dark fluffy hair and lazy smirk, the girl with the rocking hips and her pretty red hair and her sharp expression.

“Guess Tammi’s had enough with Adam’s nonsense,” Johannes pointed out as he bit through an apple. “Those two are really bad for each other.” 

Tess blinked, flustered and snapping out of her musing before anyone would notice her mental stutter. What in the hell was that about?

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“Why do they always do this in public?” Juliana said with an annoyed click of her tongue. 

Tess shrugged, it was what they had always done. Their relationship was a toxic mess, and she didn't want to get involved with school drama. She swiped back her bangs, watching the social trainwreck in front of her.

“Fuck you, Adam! YOU—” the rest of the argument trailed off as the pair walked away, and Tess winced at the crash of glass.

Thank the gods she had never gotten into dating during high school.

---

Tess had spent the day looking for basic lessons on shamanism since it was one of the most distinct and most ‘trusted’ forms of channeling. Since it largely involved a very different process from most forms of paracausal abilities. 

Shamanism is a messy science, relying on feeling, instinct, metaphor, philosophy, and the fundamental differences between spirits and souls. A soul was smooth, a frictionless sphere with the internal etchings providing the power for channeling. The flow of rūh, of life energies through the body, the conduit of the soul.

Shamanism was different, you could be born with it or become one with sufficient spiritual trauma. Or at least that's what Tess had been taught. Shamans were much more flexible, able to command any number of concepts, invoking the innumerable spirits in question. All other channelers manipulated things of the material world.

Matter, energy, objects, animals, even people. Tess knew it wasn't cut and dry, some paracausal powers used the higher realities to function. Psychics could use their energies to tap into the connections across space and time, between all living things. But they couldn't use their powers on the spirits, it would be like trying to hook up a difference-engine with a modern optronic array. 

It would do fuck all. 

Instead, she brought up her hand, her holo-caster reacting to the movement to project a large screen. She had a lot more work to do, and—

There was a soft alert, Googol bringing up a need report on the screen at her prompting. 

Khepri System News Network

June 1, 3522

WAVE OF DISAPPEARANCES AND KIDNAPPINGS OF CHANNELERS - THOUSANDS MISSING ACROSS THE SYSTEM

NEITHER ENKIDU NOR COSMOGONY HAS TAKEN CREDIT FOR THE SPREE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ARE ON HIGH ALERT!

Tess felt her chest clench, her good mood plummeting at the news. Enkidu and Cosmogony were both extremist terrorist groups on opposite ends of the spectrum. Enkidu are anti-channelers, despising the practices and even the shamans, tolerating the spirits only as of the grand design of the Almighty. Cosmogony was instead a supremacist group born out of people saved by channelers during the Days of Iron.

Both were in the habit of being gigantic assholes, and Tess hated them for poisoning the well, for the terrible things they had done in the name of their ideologies. 

Tess rolled off her bed, standing up and flattening out her ruffled black shirt. She rubbed her temples and cracked open the window of her bedroom. 

“Do you think this will have an impact on my parents? I know mama hates Cosmogony and Enkidu. Mom isn't any different…” 

A massive hooked beak poked its way into her bedroom. The flightless bird was an animal with a spirit as strong as her body, every bit as tough as her weight in iron, and a fierce determination that let her survive and evade the authorities that dislike having giant wild animals roam into a town.

“Swift-Feather. You’re a real sweetie, showing up when you did.” Tess smiled, offering scritches to the massive mass of muscle, feathers, and beak. “If only I knew the words, how to invoke the spirits like I'm supposed to.” She was talented, yes, but it did not make up for her lack of teaching.Not without a grave cause, a price she wasn't willing to pay. 

At least her town was safe, especially with Swift-Feather by her side.

Jin smiled as she turned on her heels, iron sand following her wake as she practiced her elemental manipulation. She was not going to call it Kinetics even if those snobby scientists said it was more accurate. There was a reason her family stood apart from the institutions of the Solar Systems Alliance.

“Dad is going to be so impressed, I'll be mining metal with him in no time.” She let out a sigh, all the regulations burdening channelers made it hard to run businesses using powers. Shamans had the easiest time of it because of the effect of the spirits on the physical world. But no one trusts them.

She reached out with her rūh to connect the metal and stone, strumming the strings of her gift. 

Her smile faltered when her senses screamed out at the wrongness in the air 

The fabric of the Real began to part, as chitinous pincers sheared through the barrier between realms. It was a drifting indigo flame, limbs folding and unfolding into reality, surrounded in a hollow organic shell interspersed with metal and wiring. It looked like a horseshoe crab with enormous arms and pincers, eyes opening and closing throughout its rotting ethereal skin. 

Jin attacked without hesitation, sending out waves of iron sand, jumping back a half dozen feet from the creature. The spirit twisted out of the way, space folding in a way that made her shudder, eyes widening in terror.

It launched a strike from its long arms, throwing a blast of sickly green energy into her face. Jin coughed, stumbling as she started to slow down. What's happening to me?

 She felt her limbs drop, pulling back her power even as her mind screamed at her to stop the suicidal action. It was a pulse, a command dulling her senses, loosening her muscles, and dropping her guard. 

Like a puppet cut from its strings, she collapsed. Her horror and fear grew as the spirit creature began to grapple with her, as strange insectile drones emerged from holes in its back. Its form shifted, becoming thin and kite-like, eyes continuing to form across its skin. It spoke as it kidnapped her, and Jin was screaming in terror and horror.

“TARGET IDENTIFIED. HUMAN DESIGNATION: JIN AZUL. YOU WILL BE PROCESSED UPON THE ORDERS OF—” A din of static and inhuman screaming followed, and Jin whimpered as it's pincers drew blood.

What do you want from me? She couldn't ask her question aloud as the creature spasmed and shrieked, machinery warping and dripping ichor

It stabilized, seemingly hearing her thoughts.

“MISSION STATEMENT: ACQUIRE SPECIMENS WITH SOUL STRUCTURES OF A SPECIFIC NATURE FOR [REDACTED]. YOUR SILENCE IS REQUIRED.” A song trailed along her mind.

Jin screamed silently as she was forced into unconsciousness by the lulling lullaby.

---

Compendium Entry (Historical): The United States of Hanowa

The United States of Hanowa was a major superpower during the thirty fourth century. It is often a matter of fierce debate of whether the nation-state would have remained a superpower if not for the results of its actions with the use of paracausal power. By the time of First Contact, it had largely been subsumed by its neighbors, the Alyeska Dominion and the Aztlán Republic. The United States of Hanowa was considered the dominant superpower of the Far East, with a mature economy and a long series of predecessor states to draw upon for legitimacy. 

The United States of Hanowa had won its independence from the defunct Romalian Empire, declaring independence in 3076 and becoming a major superpower over the next century and a half. They were among the first to begin the scientific study of channeling and shamanism as a science, for good or ill. After the first world wars, a global arms race took place throughout the late thirty third century, one which gradually cooled down with the collapse of some of their rivals due to economic collapse. 

However, the dawn of the thirty-fourth century had begun with breakthroughs in Applied Metaphysics which the United States of Hanowa gladly made use of especially as developing nations began to shrink the nation’s slice of the pie. This new global arms race proved far harder to control, and ended up in multiple pogroms and genocides perpetuated by paracausal powers. This culminated in the Day of Black Rain which destroyed the island country of Shiretoko in 3390 PE. This was followed by a three-decade-long period of terror and chaos, a new era of war that the United State of Hanowa did not survive, fracturing into smaller states before being subsumed into what would become the Hanowa Federation. 

However, their technology and knowledge did survive the near-collapse of civilization on Terre, playing a critical role in the establishment of the Solar Alliance and the eventual discovery of the Void Rails and the breakthroughs in exotic physics needed to use them. 

While the nation has been largely subsumed, its descendant states and colonies remain major political players within humanity’s complex internal affairs. An often controversial fact of life among the many countries that still bear the scars of the former nation’s past mistakes.

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