Good Things To An End

The Three Techniques

In the forest behind her, she could still hear the faint sound of birds. As always, the blue roses swayed in the wind, and in the distance, it looked like an ocean of blue, swaying in waves.

Owen tossed the water bottle up and down in his hand. "So, making a structure is something that takes a lot of energy. But, it's the most useful, and is the basic foundation to do most of the things you see."

"So, how does it work?"

Owen poured some water out of his bottle, holding it in place. "Well, it's always easiest to do it with your hands. Moving your hand around to make the shape you want, and then spread or close your fingers in to fill in the empty spaces."

Owen moved his hands in a circle, then closed his fingers together to fill in the shield.

May tried to push the shield, but it held firm. "Okay, you can make structures, but how do you make it firm like that?"

"You have to clench up your hands. But, eventually, it becomes slow to do hand motions. In reality, you can just imagine doing those motions and then the structure you want will form. But, it's easier to go with hands first."

May took a breath in. "Alright, here we go." She drew a circle of water with her hand, and tried to push her fingers back together. It was as if ropes were holding them back. She saw the water slowly close in, and it formed a circular shield.

Owen flicked against the water, testing it out. "Man, you're a natural. Here, you can let go of it now. This is really hard to make. I'm honestly really impressed you did this!"

May let it go, panting with her hands on her knees. "Why is that so exhausting?"

"Well, you have to constantly maintain the structure, so it drains your energy. Water isn't good for structure forming, really. More solid things, like ice, can maintain their position if they're on the ground. But, water is easily manipulated."

May smiled, looking up. "Even though it's harder, I still did it!"

Owen ruffled her hair. "Yeah, I'm really impressed you did! It's normally something we learn when we're much more experienced with Gaia energy, yet you did it on your own!"

"Are there even harder techniques? Like, other than the ones you've shown me?"

"Actually, no!" Owen counted off his fingers. "These are the three techniques of Gaia energy. Creation, manipulation, and structurisation. And there are variants of combining those techniques and the things you do with them, but all of magic relies on these three things.

May glanced up, seeing the clouds start to get gray. "Say, do you think it's gonna rain?"

Owen turned around, thinking. "Nah, no way it'll be raining that fast-"

A drop of rain landed on his nose, and then it started to pour.

"Et tu, nature?"

They ran under the shade of the tree. The leaves were dense enough to not let much rain in. May sat against the tree's firm bark. A ring of rain surrounded the tree; drops of water hitting the leaves echoing in her ears like drums.

May stared at the raindrops, as the roses caught the rain in their pedals. They swayed in the weight of the drops.

"Tranquil, huh?" Owen crouched next to May.

May sighed. "Yeah, it's really nice. Not only is the sun nice, but somehow, rain is too."

Owen sat on the other side of the tree. "It's like a reflective rain, one you would curl up with a hot chocolate, a blanket, or something like that."

May stared up through the gaps of the leaves, at the gray clouds. "Hey, Owen?"

"Hm?"

She sighed. "In Gaia, do you believe in god?"

"God, huh? Why would you think that?"

She crossed her legs. "In such a perfect world, with magic even, do you think that there's something bigger controlling it all?"

"Well, of course. We believe in two gods. The first is Word, who controls every event in our life. Everything we do is choreographed by Word. Then, the second is spirit, who gives us emotion in our actions."

"Then do you think Word brought me here?"

Owen laughed. "Right, I forgot about that. It felt like so long ago..."

May stared at the pod, sitting in the flower field out of place. "I guess it was a miracle we met, considering the fact I didn't stab you."

"On your planet, did you believe in gods?"

May leaned her head against the tree, staring at the sky. "No, not really. And before coming here, I really didn't believe they existed. But, I guess, this changed my mind."

Owen stared up at the sky too. "Do you miss your old planet?"

"Yeah, kinda. I guess there's no place like home. And it'll always loom over my mind, how I'm the only one left. All my family and friends burned to ash." May hung her head.

Her head suddenly looked back up. She saw Owen, lifting her chin up and smiling.

"Well, I can never relate to what happened to your home. But, you made all my days on Gaia even better, and I didn't think that was even possible. You were... My star from the sky."

May smiled back. "Oh, stop. I feel like you shouldn't be saying that. You welcomed me and showed me around, after all."

"After all the trauma you've been through, I just hope I can make your life here the best I possibly can."

"Same here."