“Wow!”. I couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Now it’s your turn. Try to support my energy without dropping a single object”, my mentor shouted, passing me the baton.
I tried to get into a comfortable position, stretching my arms at my sides like a soldier and clenching my hands into fists. I closed my eyes and focused on the energy, but various thoughts crept into my head, preventing the magic power from being released outside. After a long time of trying, something started to come out. Feeling Ema’s energy, I intercepted objects floating near the ceiling and even circled them a little in the air, but then they fell down with a roar in the form of rain. If it were not for the protective shield in the shape of an aura, which my mentor had previously set around us, we would not have gotten away with injuries.
“Yeah,” Ema mumbled thoughtfully, stroking her chin. “It’s going to be harder than I thought. Apparently, telekinesis is not your thing. Now you have to learn how to be able to push all else from your mind in the first place. They will never let your power be released, instead will keep it inside like in captivity”.
“But how do I do it? It doesn’t make any sense. I can’t stop thinking at all, can I?” I got confused.
“Everything is possible if you want that, especially for Bernauses with their limitless potential. You need to put a barrier between your energy and emotions so that they don’t overlap. Try to understand, Emilius, if you, by using your powers, let your feelings take over, then everything that happened to you during this time will be repeating constantly. It’s enough one emotional thought to destroy everything around you, even that one what is dear to you. If you fail to contrast magic and feelings, do not draw a clear line between them, you will never be able to control your energy, and it will spill out along with your negative emotions. Magical energy and mental state are not the same thing. They should function independently of each other”.
Ema instructed me like a teacher, putting her hands on her hips and pacing from side to side. She went on after a little pause: “Whenever you use your powers, you must shut your feelings. And vice versa. It is on this that we will be focusing our efforts, and the powers will take the necessary form themselves”.
“How much time do I have left?” I asked uncertainly, not really wanting to know the answer.
“You will pass a certain stage when you feel harmony with your own energy. You will feel ‘you and it’ as an inseparable wholeness. This feeling is unmistakable. Then your former appearance will return. Everyone has their own transition period in duration. No one will be able to determine the exact time. In general, if we count the average period, there are two or three months give and take. At this time, you stop contacting everyone around you except me”.
Such news both pleased and disappointed me. The thought that I would have to spend several months in isolation was depressing, but the fact that I would not part with Ema made me happy to some extent. Generally speaking, I was sad and happy at the same time.
“Before we finish for today, let’s do a little experiment. Do you want to see all your power with your own eyes? Remember that powers do not depend on the sex, but they affected by genes and both mental and personal characteristics. In addition, there is no black and white magic. There are Bernauses who use absolutely neutral magical energy for their own good and or bad purposes”.
“What will happen to those who fail to put a barrier between magic and emotions?” I thought I already knew the answer to this question.
“They will be eliminated,” replied Ema firmly, as if she herself took part easily in such an action. “We do not need uncontrolled individuals who are unable to put their temper under control”.
I wanted to ask something else, but my mentor beat me to it:
“Release your energy and look at it from the inside.
“Won’t I destroy anything here?”
“Release its non-destructive part. You know what I mean”.
“Yes, I knew. I closed my eyes and focused on my powers. I don’t know exactly how much time passed, but when I woke up as if from meditation, a sight of amazing beauty appeared before me. I was floating in the air. My eyes were burning with a bright fire, and the energy, emitting heat of all shades of red, spread like a Magellanic cloud through the premises of the former factory cafeteria, which became the Universe for a moment. Below me down there Ema stood dumbfounded by protection of the aura. There was extreme admiration in her eyes. With the help of telepathy, she conveyed a thought to me (the first such attempt of our mental contact):
“Now I know what you are. You are the one who is destined to destroy and create”.
9. Initiation
It took me a long time finally to take my powers under control, subordinate the energy to the mind and turn off emotions and feelings when using them. All that was not easy. It also was not easy to change my own temper to suit the circumstances. After I learned how to control the gift, my former appearance returned, and I stopped looking like a zombie from horror movies about the Apocalypse. The world appeared to me in a completely different light. My eyesight stopped deteriorating and even improved so much that I could distinguish the smallest details in the pitch darkness. The hearing problems disappeared too. It used to cheat me before. Now, like a cat, I could make out the quietest noises and knew who or what they belonged to. Someone, maybe, would say that such hypersensitivity was not good and that it would interfere with a full life, distracting attention to all sorts of little things. Yes, on the one hand, they would be right. It was hard at first. When it became a habit, it was perceived as second nature. Of course, I didn’t want to think that I would have to pay for everything in this life. There is not such thing as a free lunch. Everything has a price. And for the new powers an early and unknown death awaits me ahead. I could only guess what fate would be in store for me. But in the meantime, it didn’t matter. The past cannot be changed, and the future cannot be prevented. It remains only to enjoy the present. It is that decides what will become of us tomorrow.
“Today you are about to get acquainted with the set of rules on ‘Bernausism’, created by Almighty Stone. The language in which the Book is written defies researching even by us. It can be learned, but used only in special cases, for example, when communicating with Bernauses of other nations and performing spells. This will be the last test before the meeting with the Council. The Council is just a formality. It officially accepts newcomers into the chosen caste,” Ema solemnly declared, as if she herself was an honorary member of the Council.
“So I can’t refuse, can I?” I asked with a hint of displeasure and disappointment, since I didn’t particularly like such gatherings. Being in the center of attention and shining in front of strangers was not my cup of tea.
“Of course not! Refusal condemns you to a life of outcast. You become a Bernaus after the approval of the Council and adding your name in the annals of our kind. Enough questions for today! It’s time to finish what we’ve started”. The former mentor interrupted the meaningless conversation and headed for the exit.
Ema looked amazing as always: she was dressed in tight leather pants and a jacket that clearly outlined her waist and hips; her hair was loose (I always liked girls with loose hair). Either Ema didn’t like messing with it, doing different hairstyles, or she just liked to feel free. I noticed a long time ago that if she was in a good mood, she let her hair down, and if she was in a bad mood, she tied it with a ribbon or elastic band. While agitated, she had a habit of combing them to the right side. I knew my friend like the palm of my hand. Sensing that I was watching her sideways, Ema stopped and gave me an appraising glance, and then rolled her eyes.
“Kaulakis,