Biohuman

"Alright, we\'ll start at the basics." Gorrum started. He had his arms folded as Nabi stood next to him. Keng sat looking at the both of them. "Energy is what we use on Daros. I\'ve been told that the Energy equivalent on the Earth Realm is Dark Matter. Dark Matter, Energy, Mana, whatever you call it, it\'s the same thing. They all have slight differences, but understanding how it works will aid you.

"To start with, we simply will ask beginners to feel two objects. In this case, you\'ll hold a rock and a twig. They have energy stored within them. Even though it\'s faint, it should be enough for you to open your channels and feel it. So pick up the twig and rock in front of you and try to feel the energy."

"Okay, sounds easy." Keng nodded. He grabbed the rock and twig and lifted them up. He stared at the rock and waited. He waited for a long while and eventually shrugged. "I don\'t feel anything. Am I supposed to feel something?" He looked up at Nabi and Gorrum.

"How\'s he able to even produce powers?" Gorrum turned to look at Nabi.

"I don\'t know. I know his Vessel could do it." Nabi answered.

"He could control the ebb and flow of Dark Matter. He was a natural at it. I guess I didn\'t get any of that." Keng sighed.

"Don\'t be too discouraged, Keng. You two are two different people. It\'s natural to feel discouraged, but don\'t compare yourself to him. You\'re here to train for this very reason, right?" Nabi encouraged Keng. She moved over and knelt down next to him. "Gorrum and I agree that it\'s weird you can produce any magical powers at all without the full understanding of Energy detection-control. Just cause you can\'t do it well, doesn\'t mean it\'s hopeless.

"Look it at this way. You have already figured out the next part. You skipped this part but it doesn\'t mean you didn\'t completely fail when it came to it. You have some sort of understanding of it to produce your abilities, but you don\'t understand how to feel the energies. Once you get the grasp of it, you might be just as impressive, no more impressive than Lee Seng." Nabi smiled at him. Keng took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright. I\'ll try again." Keng commented.

"Alright. Take your time. Beginners usually don\'t get anything for months." Nabi told him. She stood up and moved back over to Gorrum.

"Ready to try again?" Gorrum asked.

"Yes, sir." Keng nodded. He adjusted himself and spun the rock and twig in his hands. He  closed his eyes and continued to spin them in his hands. He would physically understand the properties of the rock and twig.

\'The rock is hard yet smooth. The stick is rough and the bark feels like they might prick me.\' Keng thought. With the physical attributes in mind, he started to imagine how energy would be stored in the items. They would probably be in the shapes of the items in his hand. \'The twig could probably be fainter than the rock, right?\'

He slowly tilted his head off to the right and continued to feel for the energy. Many hours had passed. He had gone into a half-daze, half-meditated state. His head drooped as the stone landed on the floor as his head shot up.

He felt something dry on his face and wiped at it. It was dried spit. He sighed and stretched.

"I guess I fell asleep focusing for so long…" Keng noticed the twig had fallen out of his hand and had somehow got underneath his thigh. The rock had rolled a couple feet away. He looked around and noticed Gorrum was writing in a notebook.

"Did I fall asleep for long?" Keng asked, standing.

"For a couple hours." Gorrum answered.

"Where\'s Nabi?"

"She had to go back to Dat\'e. You\'ve been in a meditative state for awhile that I thought you\'d enjoy the rest." Gorrum closed the notebook and looked at him.

"Sorry I fell asleep. I was really trying." Keng sat down next to Gorrum.

"It\'s alright, Keng. We\'ll go at this for a couple of days. Maybe you\'ll get it by then. You\'re already well aware of how to use the ebb and flow of energy manipulation to create your fox fires and light. You can even manipulate the Energy of your tails just fine." Gorrum pointed.

"How\'d you know that? I\'ve never done it in front of you before."

"Nabi\'s told me a lot about you and Lee Seng. I can understand why you took so long to get out of Elder Jyu\'so\'s assessment spell. You must care for him a lot and probably never had to make much of the decisions because of your relationship. You and him equally chose things together and now that you\'re forced to be away from him, there\'s a void in your heart, right?" He poked where Keng\'s heart would be.

"I… I never put it into words before… Concrete words." Keng quietly answered. He looked at the field in front of them. They were still under the shade of the tree. The twin suns rose higher in the sky. It would be two or three more hours before high noon. "I really didn\'t think anyone could put it into words. The void in my heart… I honestly think I\'m a replica of Lee Seng." He gave a small smile as he stared at his knees.

"I look exactly like him. I act very similar to him. I\'ve even taken a lot of similar personality traits and mannerisms. I\'ve mimicked Lee Seng almost perfectly yet he still tells me to be myself. That \'you\'re your own Fox, so you gotta be yourself.\'" Keng chuckled. "He would encourage me to be myself. To find myself yet I struggled to understand that. What does it mean to be \'myself\'? How do you figure stuff like that out? The two of us share the same soul yet we can be apart because of our Shapeshift ability. What does it mean to be myself?"

"You sound like the kids I visit back on the Floating city." Gorrum smiled. Keng turned to look at him. He felt Gorrum\'s warm smile and waited for him to continue as his eyes seemed to recall the children. "They ask me all these random questions, but one of them would always ask the question you ask. \'How do I know I\'m me? What makes me so different from you. Aren\'t we from the God King at the end of the day?\' This could would ask the hard hitting questions of life that even I don\'t know haha. I always thought about \'how should I answer this," but I always came back to the same conclusion."

Gorrum turned to look at Keng. Keng could tell Gorrum was a good person. He didn\'t understand how he could get such a good read on someone, but Gorrum was truthful and honest. His words, his body language, his eyes told Keng he wanted to help him.

"I told the kid, \'We might have come from the God King, but we\'re all created individually. The God King has created you and I, but it doesn\'t mean we all have to follow the same path.\' Just cause you\'re the first Fox Spirit who\'s mutated to live off of one soul doesn\'t mean you\'re the same. You two are completely different. He\'s a human turned Fox Spirit. You\'re a Fox Spirit created by the God King, Keng. You and him have different upbringings and may have a lot of similar qualities." Gorrum chuckled.

"But recall anytime you\'ve fought alongside Lee Seng. Both of you fight differently, right?" Gorrum asked. Keng nodded. "Just like both of you fight differently, both of you think of solving a problem differently, right? When he\'s stuck do you have an idea or answer?"

"Yeah, sometimes." Keng answered.

"Exactly. You two may share the same soul, the same looks, similar voices, etc. But that doesn\'t mean you\'re the same person. You were created by the God King while your Vessel was chosen by the God King to take you and merge with you and walk with you. You may not know what your purpose is on your own, but you have a lifetime to figure that out. Right now you\'re away from Lee Seng, but it will not be permanent. You will have to go back eventually and meet him, right?"

"Mmmhm. Go back eventually and save him from our ill-fated fate." Keng agreed. Gorrum raised his eyebrows.

"Your ill-fated fate? Why do you think you two have an ill-fated fate?" Gorrum asked.

"Well, Miss Weiss said that there are times that a Fox Spirit separates from their Vessel. If they go long without returning, the both of them will turn into a monster and fight each other to the death."

"You know about the Cursed?" Gorrum asked, surprised. "Weiss told you such a thing?"

"Mmmhm. She said I don\'t have much time. That\'s why I want to learn all I can now before that happens." Gorrum sighed in frustration.

\'I didn\'t think she would tell him the truth straight up. Well, if that\'s already happen then I can\'t do anything about it.\' Gorrum thought.

"Well, if you know about it then I don\'t need to act like you have much time." Gorrum told Keng. "You have maybe two Daros years before you have to go back. Train hard and go back to your Vessel, alright?"