Soulseer ✔️ *COMPLETE*

Chapter Nineteen

"Terrible!" Sahar shouts as I pick myself up from the ground of Circus arena and wipe sand off my face. "You have only a hammer in your toolbox!"

As if I don't know that by now!

When I first arrived at the Pit, Sahar had pulled me aside with a delicate tentacle of her soul to explain the theory behind Soulshaping as the other students trickled through the arch and out onto the sands. Sahar says that souls - like Inbetween in general - naturally exist between worlds so you have to pull your soul fully into this world for it to "physically" interact with anything here. You have to make it commit to this state of reality in the manner in which you desire for however long you require. Otherwise your soul will just slide through people, objects and animals like the snobby bitch at the school dance.

When we launched into individual practice, no one was more shocked than me when my soul actually surged into a block and hovered at the ready over my shoulder. It was thrilling to discover that I could quickly and easily form this huge hammer and I took enormous glee in flailing around madly, sending sand and wooden training blocks flying. The look of triumph on Sahar's face gave me a rush of hope and confidence and sent ripples of excitement through the arena. But it became apparent that, despite my best efforts, my stupid soul refused to form anything other than a big block. Triumph fizzled into something approaching failure rather quickly. Why did the hammer come so easily to me when others apparently spend days of trial and error before shaping anything at all? And why can I only Shape a freaking hammer?

Ximena tries not to smile. She is not successful. Ximena is clearly the star of Sahar's class on SoulShaping: Strikes and Shields. I've heard from several people, not just Ximena, that she is gifted at all the Warrior arts. She has yet to manage the fine motor control that makes Sahar so formidable, but Ximena's skills are head and shoulders above the rest of us. Miles above me.

My esteem for Sahar has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, her regard for me seems to have an inverse relationship.

I take advantage of my colleagues' water break to approach Sahar.

"I was thinking that it might help me if I understood how exactly Shaping is related to Weaving," I say.

"That would be very helpful," she says nodding.

I wait. And wait. But Sahar stares blankly at me for several hot, sweaty moments before realizing that I was hoping for more. "Oh. It would be helpful but I don't know."

I have to play her words over in my head several times before I understand how little information I am receiving.

She pats my arm with a tentacle of her soul. "And so, we will continue practicing until we do know. Your progress is not terrible for your first day." And she shoves me back in place with enough force to make me stumble.

"Switch!" Sahar yells and the line of Noviciates on one side shifts down a place. Ximena and her smirk are removed from my immediate field of vision and a new pair of sneakers slide into view.

We're supposed to be practicing various methods of attacks and discovering which type of defence is optimal for each. My ability to manufacture an enormous block was initially a winner - for either side. But since all the other Noviciates have figured out that this is literally the only thing I can do, they now seem intent on creating new and exciting ways to overcome my massive but incredibly unwieldy shield. It's like playing Rock Paper Scissors when everyone knows that you'll throw a closed fist every time.

"Left side will attack, right side defend," Sahar calls out from one end. She eyes the sun directly overhead. "This will be our final round for the morning. Make it count." I don't have to look at her to know that she's talking to me. I lift my gaze from the sand to see Yasen eyeing me with a calculating look.