First I combed my memories for moments of fulfillment. A moment where dad had pushed me harder than normal in training, and I did not give up. The first time we ran together, and I made it even though my legs wanted to fall off.
The moment I succeeded in entering thoughtless awareness.
My first day on the irrigation team, or when I completed my first hunt with my father. The day I had the courage to ask for something I wanted. It was the brief, very brief moment after all these events where I felt fulfillment.
Because I made choices and those choices did not betray me, they made me feel a fullness not of body, not of heart…but of soul. I took that feeling and held onto it. Keeping it at the forefront of my mind and doing everything I could to align myself with it, with fulfilling my potential.
Then with gentleness guided by precision I finally touched my soul…nothing Huh, that's it? I mean I didn't expect some grand choir but nothing?
"tsk, lame." Unlike the attempts before, this time felt inviting, it was warm and radiant.
Well, know what? I've touched it. How does one manipulate it? Whatever it'll come to me first I inspected my soul…'what a strange sentence.'
As Anecus inspected, it came to his attention he was in this strange state of awareness. He wasn't 'looking, or touching' in the conventional sense. It was like moving an invisible force around inside his body that was himself.
So it was strange for details to start surfacing. It was about the size of a first, it was warm and its color was shifting in a prismatic way. The texture was gem like, with one larger solid core orbited by shards and splinters. 'Other souls don't look like this.'
An instinct overtook Anecus, he observed the shards orbit his core, the sudden urge to 'grab' and fracture it from the core overtook me. "Please don't hurt." Taking a deep breath he willed for one of the shards to break off from his core.
Instantly my voice stopped working, it felt like I had bitten my tongue, only I hadn't. Only the pain surrounded the concept of speaking.
I soon forgot the feeling as a pale echo of me shimmered off my body. It was barely visible, even so it hummed with my essence.
Just as instantly Malice thrashed and screeched in a mass of frenzied confusion.
"Almost looks like its has gone crazy with..." An idea sprouted into Anecus's mind. 'A lure' could I expel this shard outside my body, could I use it as bait for Malice...
It was like having a conversation with myself, imagining I was in another location then willing the echo to go there. It was surprisingly intuitive how the shard left my body, I felt a little cold for some reason whenever it would leave my body.
Watching the shard flutter away like a butterfly was wondrous, especially when that butterfly was the heart of the echo. Directing it…'Me?' to the edge of the blue light I noticed Malice started following, 'yes! Please work.'
Finally at the edge I stepped into a strong channel of desert wind Letting myself be carried like a leaf. 'This is a unique feeling.'
Malice began to chase after me.
Back at the obsidian archway Anecus stood and waited to see how far the shard would ride the wind. He counted and roughly two minutes passed, still no Malice.
Taking a gamble he stepped out of the safety the light had been providing. There was a bank of sand leading up to a plateau were some vine beasts were, but while halfway up the bank Anecus felt Malice approaching.
He began running down the slope so fast he tripped over his own fett and began to roll while exclaiming "About About About!"
Malice and him made it to the edge of the blue light at the same time, luckily for Anecus they were on opposite ends, taking the luck with grace Anecus dogged a swipe by sliding into safety. Anecus howled with a twisted sense of excitement "hhoo! Not fast enough Malice, maybe next time."
With the adrenaline subsiding Anecus sat down in the middle of the archway 'dam…I'm hungry' I made progress though, it can be distracted.
over the cpurse of days not felt my Anecus he tried again and again and again, everytime a shard would be fractured then cast in a different direction.
Each time Malice would flinch, turn, then follow but eventually It would always come back to claim the main prize. 'Not enough time' the solution came rather quickly. Instead of a fracture here and there a pattern was needed, 'a pulse.'
Inhale…Exhale. 'Contract, release.' flare the soul, then dim it. Pules…wait. Pules…wait. It was hard to put into words what I was doing. It starts with timing the fractures of each shard to the next one, using at the dissipation of the previous as the mark and whence this is done multiple times I cast them all together. My breathing seemed to be good for the process rhythm.
At the final exhale I'd let it go, technically creating an echo of my soul signature when everything was put together. Then just like the shard I was able to 'Throw' that signature. The pulses being a form of propulsion continuously propelling the signature forward. It wasn't clear to me if others would be able to see what I was doing.
But in my eyes it sort of looked like a spectral version of me being pushed by radiant heat wrinkles, it was very translucent also It being a part of me meant my senses were still a part of it, very muted and foggy but there. "Could be useful."
Malice began to move, chasing each 'echo pulse' of me. This technique was much more complex than the 'shard lure'. I could only keep it up for roughly thirty seconds. 'Wasn't enough!' this technique was much more convincing but it didn't last nearly as long.
I had to be daring, a live test to see if Malice could be thrown off my trail would be ideal.
I needed to leave the pale blue light.