Lesson One: Don't Drown in Your Own Soul
The next morning, Professor Vastel looked unusually cheerful — which meant someone was about to suffer.
"Congratulations, Valentine," he said, floating a clipboard toward me. "You've spontaneously achieved astral projection. Most students only manage near-death experiences."
"Lucky me," I muttered.
"Now," he continued, "you will learn to not do it by accident. We start with grounding."He gestured at a half circle of runes etched into the floor."One foot in the mortal, one in the mirror. The key is to remember which foot is which."
Ayaka leaned against the wall, arms folded. "He means don't forget your body again, genius."
"I barely forgot it once," I said.
"You stopped breathing," she reminded me."Details," I said.
Kuroha yawned. "Perhaps next time try remembering lungs before enlightenment."
The Ritual of Reflection
The training chamber darkened.Mirrors floated into position around us, forming a sphere of silver light.Vastel's voice echoed softly.
"Breathe through your reflection. Feel where your consciousness bends. Step lightly, or fall forever."
I exhaled. The Nihility Fire glowed inside me, steady as a heartbeat. My spirit tugged gently upward—no explosion, no free fall. Just lift.
Ayaka's tails shimmered; her form blurred into glowing fox-fire beside me.She grinned. "Guess I'm coming too."
"You know this isn't safe," I said.
"Neither are you," she answered, and the world folded.
The Sea Unveiled
Color vanished.We stood above an endless ocean of mirrors — a horizonless expanse reflecting a thousand skies.Each ripple shimmered with memory.
Ayaka gasped. "It's… beautiful."Her fox-fire tails left trails of golden light as she stepped onto the surface.
"The Sea of Reflections," Kuroha said, appearing beside us. "Here, every thought becomes a tide."
I tested it—thinking of Celestara's plaza—and waves shimmered, briefly forming its outline before fading."Thought-responsive physics. Great. I can already tell this won't go wrong."
Echo Currents
Vastel's disembodied voice followed from the real world.
"Observe the flow beneath you. The stronger the emotion, the faster the current. Control requires calm."
I tried meditating.Ayaka tried surfing.
"Wheee!" she yelled, sliding down a ripple of glowing glass."Ayaka!" I shouted. "That's probably not covered by spiritual insurance!"
She flipped gracefully, landing beside me, laughing. "Come on, Nihilum Boy, you're missing the fun part!"
Kuroha smirked. "Your partner adapts faster than you."
"Don't remind me."
The First Distortion
Then the current shifted. The reflections darkened; faces formed in the waves — countless versions of me, whispering.
"Why do you keep coming back?""What do you expect to find?""How many mirrors until you disappear?"
Ayaka stepped forward, tails flaring. "Back off, knock-offs."
Kuroha's fur bristled. "These are echoes—fragments of thought, not alive but not dead."
One of them reached toward me. I let the Soulflame bloom — gold threads spreading through the reflection.The echoes shattered into harmless light.
For a heartbeat, the Sea sang — a hum that vibrated through every mirror.
"Balance," Kuroha murmured. "You didn't erase them. You released them."
"Guess I'm improving."
Lessons in Balance
We drifted for what felt like hours. Time flowed differently here — not forward, but outward.
Ayaka walked beside me, quiet now. "So this is what your soul feels like. It's huge… and a little lonely."
"Yeah," I said softly. "That's the Nihility part."
She reached out, fingers brushing mine. "Then I'll keep visiting, so it doesn't stay lonely."
The Sea glowed faintly where our hands touched — crimson and gold light merging across the mirrors.
Kuroha pretended not to notice. "Sentiment acknowledged. Shall we return before you two drown in feelings?"
Return to the Flesh
We closed our eyes, focusing on the tether—our bodies waiting in the meditation hall.The mirrors dimmed, folding back into shadow.
A heartbeat later, I gasped awake in the physical world.Ayaka blinked beside me, tails slowly fading. Kuroha stretched from my shadow.
"Synchronization at seventy-three percent," Vastel said, scribbling notes. "You're becoming dangerously compatible."
Ayaka smirked. "We're efficient."
I rubbed my temples. "We're exhausted."
Kuroha's voice drifted like a purr.
"Welcome back, Astral Traveler. Next lesson: learn to dream on purpose."