City of Fate

The Flux Explained

"The LifeForce is like threads that connect to you from Giya." Ruth said as she leaned forward with her elbows resting on her knees, more animation in her movements then Emelia had noticed from her since she woke from her convalescence. " Giya is the Mother of The Flux, the beginning of all life and the River of LifeForce that bathes the planet in her light. The streams flow into you and flow through you. The Flux is what we call the "magic" we use. It is a flow of the Stream of Giya and quite frankly it's not magic to us, it's a way of life. Others use different terms like the Art, or the Power, these are acceptable terms, but we don't do magic." She paused and took a breath and a sip of water from a glass of water that sat on a table next to her. "The LifeStream is broken into Five basic colors. Blue is water and air, yellow is light and health, red is fire and protection, green is plant and earth and black is death and time." 

Emelia listened, leaning back in the comfortable leather arm chair, questions already bubbling in the back of her head.

"For most , to tap into these streams, you need to concentrate, to totally focus your mind  on the stream, invoking a method called the blank. Children of the light folk are taught this technique from a young age. Most have a tendency toward one color or another, largely dependent on the parentage. As one gains proficiency in the technique, it becomes easier and easier to obtain the blank." Ruth recited, as if from a script.

"So what color am I?" Emelia blurted, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

"It is unclear, but what is clear is that you exhibited two separate colors already and without any training or without using the blank." Ruth steepled her fingers and tapped them against her lips. "This is highly unusual for someone of your age and level of training." 

"The blank is both mind and breathing, you clear your mind, you breathe slowly. You must learn this technique if you ever intend to gain control over the LifeForce. You have no training whatsoever and invoked both Black and Blue Flux." Ruth continued cutting off any further questions from Emelia. "Black Flux are very rare among the light people and very dangerous because death and time are not LifeForces one should trifle with."

"Once one masters their particular LifeForce or LifeForces, they will not only have supreme control over those elements but will be able to see the streams of Giya connected to others ." With this, Ruth opened her hand palm up and a small but bright red flame appeared over it. Emelia could feel the heat from it even as far as she was from Ruth.

"I have Mastered the Yellow and Red." Ruth then closed her hand over the flame and raised the other hand and a ball of bright yellow light floated from within her palm and up toward the ceiling, fizzling and disappearing as it rose. " The strange thing is that I cannot see the Stream of Giya that flow into you, highly unusual indeed."

"Now the next important thing you need to know is that the bigger the Flux spell and the longer you use it,  the more energy you expend. This is because the Stream of Giya thins as it flows through you and it uses the latent energy within you saping your strength. In a way it is almost like a muscle, the more you use it the more you practice the more LifeForce flows through the Stream. The more energetic the Stream the less energy it sapps from you and the less tired you will feel afterword." She looked poignantly at Emelia when she recited this part. "As you well know from your martial arts training that if you overexert yourself it can be dangerous, it goes the same for using the LifeStreams, except it can have fatal consequences. It is imperative that you don't try to practice without me or one of the Watchers with you, without proper training you could draw all the LifeForce from within and you would most assuredly die." Ruth was pointing a finger at Emelia to drive her point home. "That is why when you used the Flux the other day you passed out and were out for a full day and a half. That was only a very short lived and minor spell."

"Two more big things you will need to know prior to the start of you training, First one is that there are Dark LifeForces, too. Purple is the power over the dead and the mind, Grey is demons and hell fire and white, just like black, is control over time and death. The difference is the person whom has the Stream and where it comes from." Ruth stared at Emelia. "These are all highly dangerous and the flow of LifeForce comes from Mephitous. He is the Father of all the underworld, the puller of the strings behind every war and the purveyor of the darkness." 

"The last major point I have to make and we can get on with the fun stuff. The things you can do with the Flux is only limited by a few things. One is the strength of your LifeStream, two is the color, although if you are clever enough, then you figure out many things to do despite the color. The Third limitation is your imagination, some spells are incantations, but most come from your mind. If you can think it and form a Stream large enough, then just about anything is possible." Ruth took another sip from her water and turned to fully face Emelia, placing her hands on her knees once again. "So do you have any questions?"

Emelia had many, many questions. Her mind was swirling and inundated with so many questions she could hardly control herself. Despite that, Emelia took a deep breath, pushed the swirling mass of questions and comments to the back of her brain, and and asked the most important question she could think of. With a smirk that touched both her eyes and mouth, she said "When do we start the training?"

Ruth's mouth quirked with a wide smile, as if she was gloating over a particularly tasty victory, and stood, waving one arm in an after you gesture and said. "Follow me Em, and we can get started right away."

Emelia  could still feel the maelstrom of thoughts in the back of her head and a nagging, deep rooted apprehension coloring the edges of her mind. She stood, smoothing her clothes as she did. She flashed a wicked grim and said "I'm in. This is something I have thought about for a long time, I'm ready, let's do this. Lead on, mom, let's get this party started." 

Ruth sighed, rolled her eyes, but as she turned and walked to the door, Emelia could have sworn she heard her let out a long sigh in relief.