Chapter 10: Aura

It has been over a year since Luna and Thea had joined them and things have gotten into a routine. Van, Anna did their usual routine of training and studying and Luna would follow and sometimes join in.

The only thing that really changed was that his father was less available than usual. Van already had to avoid his parents' side of the castle, due to the moans that came from it after the breaking. But since Thea came, he had to outright go out of his way of avoiding it entirely to the point of going through different and longer halls and corridors just so he wouldn’t have to hear it. Thea was practically on top of Alvaroz. Something that at first concerned Van, but since no one seemed to care, he slowly grew used to it.

Van didn’t really talk to Thea, and Thea seemed content to wait. That was, of course, until she decided to watch a sparring match between him and his father and took an interest in the training. From the sidelines she watched and when it seemed to have ended she came over.

“Well, well. Your students seem to have a good grasp of the basics, not to mention some talent. Have you already taught them about aura?” Thea asked.

Alvaroz looked up towards her. “ I have taught them some, mostly the mediation practices that go with it and how to manipulate aura within themselves. But not on how to use it, I want them to grow their aura and their control of it before we get to using it anytime soon. That goes the same for mana.”

“I see…” she said looking down on Van and Anna as if weighing them in her eyes. “You know… your son seems to have some talent...” she gave a devilish smile, “I think I’ll like to take him in as an apprentice! I’ll make a fine martial artist out of him!”

Alvaroz frowned at that, but before he could say anything Van asked a question.

“Martial artist?” Van asked, he looked at Thea as if trying to match a brawny fist-fighter with the slim women with large breasts in front of him and couldn’t.

His thoughts must have been on his face because Thea took notice and her devilish smile turned into an evil grin. “What? Do I not look like a martial artist to you? Perhaps you would like to go a round?” then as if having a light bulb moment “ Actually... that's not a bad idea” she said turning her gaze and evil grin to Alvaroz “it's certainly been a while. What do you say to a friendly spar?”

Alvaroz didn’t look happy to hear that, or the expression on her face. Already he had his hands up in defeat. “Let's not, you tend to go a little... overboard.”

“Pfft! You just don’t know how to have some fun!” Thea accused with a smile. “Come on, it would be a good lesson for the kids!”

“I highly doubt you're doing it for the kids,” Alvaroz said deadpan. “Not to mention I’m all worn out from your daily ‘fun’ to begin with. I don’t think I'll be much of a fight.”

Thea rolled her eyes “such a baby, trying to be all rational and whatnot.” but then smiled “ but that's why I love you, you just stay pretty right there and rest up.” she then changed her gaze to Van and Anna “ since you're all ‘worn out’ perhaps I could take over and teach the kids a thing or two?”

Alvaroz paled a little. “Let's not get too hasty, I remember the last time you wanted to train me to be a martial artist such as yourself, and your fighting style consists mostly of brute force and your training isn't much better, you're more of a brawler than a martial artist. The kids would be crushed under your tutelage.”

Thea pouted at that “my fighting style consists of more than just brute force!” she said indignantly. “And I’ve improved a lot since last we met! I don’t just punch things anymore!”

“I highly doubt that,” Alvaroz replied.

“Oh?” she said, narrowing her eyes “would you like to go a round then?” she gave a feral smile “if I win, you have to let me teach the kids. Deal?”

Alvaroz groaned “does everything have to revolve around fighting with you? Don’t you have any other way of letting off steam or resolving an issue?”

“As a matter of fact,” she said looking him up and down “I do.” making it clear with her gaze what she meant and giving a slightly perverted smirk. “And who said when I meant a round I meant on the training ground?” she finished with a grin and mischievous glint in her eye.

Alvaroz looked like he was absolutely done with this while Thea looked like she was having fun teasing him. The two stared at each other and it looked like Alvaroz was going to take her up on the offer of a spar. Alvaroz’s body had that tense but relaxed look and Thea just seemed relaxed without a care in the world except for the eyes, and the grin that never left her face.

“Umm,” Van interjected into the tense atmosphere startling them both as they were into their own little world. They both turned to stare at Van, making him feel like he was in the middle of a spotlight.

“Uhh,” he continued a little unsure now “if you're a martial artist. Does that mean that Luna is one too? If so why don’t you just train her, if you want someone to train? Can't we all just train together?”

Luna who was on the sidelines just watching, and actually seemed excited at the prospect of a fight, then looked surprised and a little scared, followed by looking sad at the mention of her name and what followed after.

Thea for her part actually seemed to deflate a bit at that question and gave a quick glance at Luna to see how she was taking that question. “Luna... is a special case... She doesn’t have a body for martial arts” she said softly, which made Luna even sadder. “But.” Thea began, with a gentle smile towards her direction. “ I think she will take after Lillia very well and be a splendid mage in her own right.” the way she said that with the smile she gave, made it clear how much she cared for her daughter. Luna for her part seemed to be happy at the praise that she may take after Lillia.

“Why don’t you put her through a body awakening ritual then?” Van asked, curious.

“Well… Luna is still a little too young for that I believe.” Thea said reluctantly.

“More like you just don’t want to see your daughter hurt.” Alvaroz quietly interjected “I know how you must feel. Trust me, I didn’t want my son to go through it so young myself. But I think it’s for the best. Not to mention Lorenzo has gotten some ideas on how to make the body awakening less painful. We can also start with a blood awakening to help prep her body for later awakenings.”

Thea glared at Alvaroz, seemingly angry at just the idea that her precious child might be hurt for any reason before taking a breath and calming herself down, and giving it some thought. She looked at Luna who was clearly nervous about the conversation taking place. “What do you think Luna? Do you want to give it a chance?” she asked her daughter gently who in turn felt like she was suddenly put on the spot.

Luna looked nervously at her mother and at everyone else, including at the two Annas behind her. She clearly looked like she didn’t want to do it, but she also looked like she didn’t want to disappoint anyone by refusing to do it either, and was dithering back and forth on what to do and what to say for a while. “U-umm… I-I…” she softly stuttered out not looking at anyone as the weight of all those stares got to her. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Van felt bad. He didn’t realize that he would put Luna in such an awkward position. It wasn't his intention to make Luna feel uncomfortable, he didn’t even realize that it was an issue. He steeled himself and walked over to Luna, and he gently reached out his hand and to hold hers in his own. “I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that. You don’t have to go through it if you don’t want to. No one will think less of you for it.” he squeezed her hand. “You also don’t have to do it alone... we’ll be there for you. If you want,” he said gently.

Luna looked surprised by his action. She was very nervous before, to the point she felt her body shaking a little. But now her heart was beating for a slightly different reason and her face turned flush. But the nervousness returned and she looked at him with worry “w-will it hurt?” she asked with large puppy eyes staring directly at him with nervousness and innocence.

Van was momentarily taken aback by her full-frontal puppy eye attack but he was able to steel himself once more “ it will... but only momentarily, afterwards everything will be better. I promise.”

“And you will be there?” she asked

“I will,” he promised firmly.

Luna blushed and was quiet for a moment before looking down and sheepishly saying “O-okay”

Van was happy that he was able to resolve the issue, even as he was a little embarrassed at being the center of attention. He looked around to see how much of a fool he made of himself in the eyes of everyone else. Surprisingly most of the looks were ones of approval, others were blushing. His father had a thoughtful look on his face and nodded in his direction when Van looked his way. Thea’s face though was terrifying, it was completely lewd as if she was imagining something else that was happening between him and Luna. Van was so scared that he quickly looked away and pretended not to have seen anything.

It was then that Van realized he still was holding onto Luna’s hand and gently let go. Luna seemed a little sad at that but didn’t complain, probably also realizing that they were the center of attention and too embarrassed to continue holding hands as well.

Alvaroz came to the rescue by giving a fake cough bringing everyone's attention to him. Once he had everyone's gaze he looked towards Luna “ Luna dear, it's very brave of you to take an awakening ritual. I know how you must be feeling, Van had been through the same and I was worried sick. But, it's nothing that you can’t recover from, just a simple blood and body awakening. You’ll see that you will look back on this and be glad you took the opportunity when it presented itself.”

Luna still looked a little nervous but nodded anyway to what Alvaroz said. Thea looked at that and sighed, a little conflicted on how it seemed that her baby girl is being forced to grow up faster than she would like. But ultimately knowing that it was for the best.

“Well...” she said “now that that’s taken care of, let's go back to talking about training,” she said with a smile as if nothing interrupted the previous conversation to begin with. Leaving everyone else a little dumbfounded. She looked around pretending to be confused. “What? I need to let off some steam after that steamy display of romance!’ making Van and Luna blush. “And the only way to do that is either here or in the bedroom!” a grin on her face.

Alvaroz groaned “seriously? Can’t you just keep it in your pants!?”

Thea laughed uproariously hand on her waist and chest out “why do you think I don't wear any!”

Not for the first time did Van wonder about the relationship between the two, but he decided to keep any reservations about it to himself.

Alvaroz sighed, hand on his head “fine… you can help teach them.” he glared at Thea “ but only with my permission and under my supervision. Understood!” he finished firmly.

“Oooh. I love it when you take charge,” she said playfully seductive.

“Thea!”

“Alright. Alright.” Thea giggled “ I promise not to train them without your permission or supervision. There. Happy now?”

Alvaroz grunted but nodded then let out another sigh “why don’t you take over and finish off with a lesson on Aura. I want to see if you can properly instruct them in a clear and concise manner.”

“...shouldn’t be too hard,” she muttered, already a little annoyed that she wasn’t actually teaching about how to hit things. She looked towards the group “ alright everyone, I want you all in front of me. I’m going to teach you some things about Aura.” Thea said motioning for Van and the Annas to come in closer. “...you too Luna, if you're willing to go through with an awakening ritual so you can join in, then learning some things beforehand wouldn’t hurt.” Luna looked surprised at being called out, but nodded nervously and moved upfront with everyone else.

“Alright then. The first thing to know about Aura is that it comes from your life energy and willpower, mostly willpower. So if you don’t have the will for it, it's useless so don’t bother trying unless you're willing to work for it. The most fundamental type of aura is neutral aura. Let me show you.” almost immediately Thea’s body seemed to release a strange whitish steam from her body.

“This is colorless aura, despite being called that, it's kinda whitish, it is also called neutral aura, it's the fundamental for those first learning how to use aura. Right now it's just flowing out of me, so you have to take control of it so you don’t just waste it.” the steam then seemed to condense onto her body making it glow just a tad then cladding her body with a semi-transparent force. “By properly circulating it in your body while also cladding your body in it, it will allow you to do feats beyond what normal body training can do.” she then clapped her hands together. The shockwave of it blew air all over the place making a deafening sound that surprised all the onlookers. “This can make a simple action like a clap be far more powerful than what most would expect.”

“Then there is a colored aura. Whatever color aura can do, neutral aura can do as well, with some exceptions. Colored aura is easier to do for some people than others. The colors are blue, red, yellow, green, orange, and purple. You might have heard that in order to do some of the colors you need to mix two others if you wish to use them. That is not true, as some people can use green, orange, and purple without needing to learn the other colors. These six colors are called the base colors, and I’ll be showing them to you now.”

Thea’s aura and eyes turned a slight blue and a chilling almost judging and dominating feeling exuded from her body. “blue represents those who think more than act, also mind spirit and senses. This aura allows for one’s body and mind to speed up, and sense those around them easier. It also allows them to dictate their body with greater control and augments their mind to calculate faster, Almost as if seeing things in slow motion. Their aura can chill their opponents or electrify them. This aura is usually found in mages, scholars, and commanders and other leader types, it is also for the flexible minded types. Blue is also unique in that you can do some of what other aura colors can do and is one of the fastest aura, augmenting speed to a great degree.”

Thea’s aura and eyes then turned slightly red and an oppressive and feral presence exuded from her body. “If blue is for those who think too much, then red is for those who don’t think much at all. Red is for those who act more than think, those who are willing to set their own path forwards even if it means trying to demolish a wall with their own bare hands when just walking around would do. Red is for those who are more forceful and headstrong and easier to anger or those who rely on instincts more. Red increases one’s strength considerably and lessens pain so people with red may not even realize they are hurt. Their aura can become like flames and burn people. Red is for the warriors and the berserkers and frontline types.”

Her aura and eyes then turned yellowish and a strange feeling exuded from her body, almost as if it's tricky? “Yellow is for those who are tricky thinkers or those who are cunning or feral or even more relying on instinct than red. People who are slightly empathic and can sense other people's emotions and manipulate them. Yellow doesn't really increase their speed or strength higher than what it already is with neutral aura but it does allow their senses to sharpen and even hide their presence from others. With yellow you can have some control over your body and also can manipulate your aura to the point that you can use it to climb walls by making your aura sticky, or by making an arrow you shoot curve to meet its target, as well as other things I'll get into later. Yellow is for those who are rogues and hunters or who are more animal than person.”

Her aura and eyes took on a purplish color and a strange regal air exuded from her. “Purple is for those who are somewhat prideful and those with great determination. Their aura has a bit of both blue and red. They can manipulate their aura to become like lightning like blue aura, which increases their overall power and increases speed to ludicrous levels and is tied with blue aura in speed. Blue and purple both have lightning abilities. Their aura can influence others in subtle ways even with them not knowing it. Purple is for those who are royalty, and the leaders, or those who are just very charismatic. ”

Again she changed her aura, this time to orange, she exuded an earthly feel to her. “Orange is for the down to earth and stubborn types of people. Those who will go their own way no matter how illogical. They can manipulate the earth around them somewhat, and sense those who walk towards them so long as they are on the ground. Their aura becomes more defensive and harder, making them easily shrug off attacks on their person. Their fortitude and endurance also increase somewhat. Honestly speaking, anyone can be this type of aura, even a mule, it's mostly for the stubborn farmer, or hard-headed knight, or the very determined kind of people.”

She then changed to the final color. Green. Her aura and eyes took a greenish color and a pleasant feeling exuded from her body. “Green is for the very empathic, kind and spiritual. They are for people who go with the flow than rock the boat. Those with green, through their aura, can manipulate the wind around them. They are able to more easily communicate with wild animals and even manipulate them and plants as well. Green is also for the tamers and druids. They also have a habit of figuring out if someone is lying or not.”

Thea’s aura turned back to neutral, the pleasant feeling going away with her. “Just want to remind you that whatever colored aura can do, neutral aura can do as well with some exceptions. Even those with neutral aura can match the speed of a blue, or the strength of a red if they trained themselves hard enough. Some even go out of their way to train their color aura into their neutral one, making them far more formidable. There is also the case where cladding yourself in a color aura gives away what type of fighter you are, what strengths and therefore weaknesses you might have, so be careful of that.”

Thea sighed, expelling a large amount of air from her body as if she was tired of all the explaining she was doing. “Finally there are the advanced Aura’s such as black, and white. I'm not even going to bother since it’s lunchtime and I'm hungry so we’ll save that discussion for later or when you all are at least far enough in your aura training to have to worry about that.”

“While I don’t necessarily agree” Alvorz interjected,” it is getting late, and that was a fairly decent explanation, so I’ll take over and tell everyone about the advanced Aura’s before going off to lunch.

“Oh no you don’t!” Thea growled, surprising Alvaroz, “I’ll tell them because if I leave it up to you, we’ll end up having dinner by the time you're done!” she then turned back to the group. “I’ll explain it quickly so listen up because I won't say it again.”

“First! Not everyone can use the advanced aura, I can’t do white or black so I can’t show you it, so I can only explain it. Also white and black can be mixed with the other color auras, which can make them more deadly.”

“First is white aura. whites are those who are naturally kind and caring and willing to protect others, they are more prone to positive emotions. Their aura makes it easier for them to create and protect. they can heal others through their aura and use their auras to create barriers to protect themselves and others. They can transfer their auras to others to replenish other aura users. They have the strongest defense out of the other auras both advanced and base. Those with white have a passive ability that makes people calmer and promotes healing. They are for people who are more willing to self sacrifice for others.”

“Then there is black. Those with the black have strong willpower, ambition and are more in control and controlling than others and are more prone to negative emotions such as anger, despair, melancholy, and obsession. they are more easily obsessed with things, though that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad thing, they can be obsessed with fairness or justice just as with the desire for power. Their aura is the most destructive out of all others. They can use their aura’s to take control of others or instill fear into others. they can add their black auras into things to make them more dangerous and durable, coloring them in black. They can steal the aura of others to replenish their own aura pool. They are also the most misunderstood.”

“Those with black or white can manipulate their aura to do almost anything so be very careful of them. Also, while it might seem that they are opposed, there have been times when some people have been able to use both black and white together. But there is little to no information about it, so I couldn’t really tell you anything more about it. Now that that’s done with let's go have lunch!” she said raising a fist in the air with glee. Before anyone could do anything to stop her, Thea ran away, no doubt towards the dining room to get her to fill.

Van was amused by that, not only was she a little funny, but she was surprisingly informative when she wanted to be.

“Well… since she is already gone, we might as well go get lunch ourselves,” Alvaroz said looking towards the fleeing back of Thea with some amusement himself.