Weight of Worlds

During light class the next day, Ranvir was surprised to once more find Grev’s jovial attitude dissipating like rime on grass under the summer sun. They sat down towards the back of the class. They didn’t get any pads like Teacher Svenar gave out, instead they had to sit on the bare grass. Not that sitting on the ground was a problem, for now.

With the midday summer sun burning down on them, Ranvir joined with the others in meditation on tether-space. Part of him really wanted to pull the pressure inside and try to use his ability. Fortunately a more rational part of him was in control. It knew they meditated on tether-space everyday for reason.

So he sat with the others, feeling his tether slowly spinning around itself. There was a definite curve upwards to the three threads at this point, though there were no other hints of the loop he assumed would be coming.

He was vaguely aware of Master Ayvir making his way through the class, talking with the students. As the voice got louder Ranvir pulled away from his tether, letting himself be pushed out.

Taking in a few deep breaths, he waited for the teacher to reach him.

“Student Ranvir.” He greeted.

“Master Ayvir.” Ranvir bowed his seated position.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.” The Master continued, quietly. “I didn’t mean for it to spill onto you.”

Ranvir nodded in acceptance, finding he had to fight to look the Master in the eye. A shiver of pale-gray fear fluttered through him, as they made eye contact.

“Do you have an idea, or a question about space?”

He wetted his lips and took a steadying breath. “Does space care what is in it?”

The Teacher cocked his head. “I’m going to need you to elaborate a little.”

“Does space care what is in it, when it is manipulated?” Ranvir fiddled with his hands, searching for a better way to describe it. “Is manipulating space here.” He mimed a box in the air in front of him. “The same as manipulating here.” He gestured to the dirt at his knee.

Ayvir frowned making Ranvir’s pulse speed up. “Why wouldn’t it be different?”

“This space,” Ranvir had to swallow before continuing. “Is technically the same as that space. I want to know if the things that are occupying the space matters, when manipulating said space.”

Ranvir paused, searching for a comparison to light, that might make sense. “Like manipulating this light.” He mimicked another square. “And the same amount of light, but underwater. Does it matter, does it change things at all?”

“That’s an interesting idea.” Ayvir finally said, after a long pause. “Tell me what you figure out.”

Ranvir nodded and Master Ayvir stepped over to Grevor. Pushing against his chest, Ranvir sunk back into his tether. Mentally shrugging his shoulders a few times, feeling the need to prepare himself.

Maybe I should warm-up the tether some. The thought struck him, as he prepared sensing for the pressure.

Forging the two tweezers and accompanying hands, he grabbed the tether. Holding on tight he pulled it taut, squeezing the rotation out of it. Within a few short minutes, he felt himself start to tire. The manifestations became harder to maintain and a slight weariness was setting in.

Instead of powering through, he let go. The tether shortened slightly with the slack, though it didn’t take on the curve it had earlier. Instead, it lay limply in the middle of the space, barely rotating.

Stepping out, Ranvir noticed the slightly perspiration on his forehead and a vague sense of exhaustion in his bones. It only took a couple of minutes before the weariness faded and he felt ready to try again.

Reaching his tether felt slightly easier this time, which he took as a good sign. Instead of taking another turn tortuously towing the two tails of the three threaded tether, he turned to detecting the pressure.

It took a while before he found it. Once he did, however, it slipped in so easily, filling the space and shoving him out of it. He was once more almost fully aware of the world around, yet still had some perception of what was going on in tether-space.

He started becoming more aware of his surroundings. It felt like an entirely new sense was developing, rather than an adaptation of older ones. He was feeling the space around him.

Not far, barely an inch, or two, away from his skin. That was still infinitely more than anything he could affect previously though. A smile crept onto his face, as he ran a hand through the air. It was ‘just air’, and yet it was so much more than ‘just air’.

Closing his eyes and cupping his hands, he focused on the place between his palms where his new sense overlapped. The more he focused, he more he became aware of all the things moving through that space.

Some of it was moving through it at a leisurely pace. Leisurely compared to the rest, at least. It was still ripping through air fast, just not like the other thing he sensed. The other thing was only passing through occasionally, though.

Still, if the first thing had been going fast, this was moving at a speed fully incomparable. It passed by so quickly he was only able to process it once it was already gone.

The last was different than the other two. This was a solid, or at least that was the impression he got of it. Obviously, it wasn’t quite solid as he could move his hands through it easily enough, but it was ever present. It didn’t matter where he moved, it continued to fill the space.

Though, when he changed his hands from cupping the space above them, to below them it diminished noticeably. Was that space he was feeling, or was it something else? It must be something else, since it diminished depending on how he was cupping his hands.

Something else he noticed was the ripping fast ‘something’, moving through the space, coincided with noises. It was tough to pinpoint exactly since he had trouble processing the information until after it passed, but it he was sure it lined up.

And the first thing, which moved slowly compared to sound, might be the wind. At least he couldn’t figure out what else it could be. Maybe light, but he thought he remembered Svenar saying that light moved so fast it seemed to disappear after it was generated, so maybe not that.

He focused more intently on the space where his sense overlapped. Not looking for the wind, nor sound, or the solid-like constant of the third subject, but beyond them to space itself.

As he probed deeper the tether spun faster, and an ache grew in his bones. It developed much faster than when exercising. Though, it didn’t feel as disturbing as it had when he’d been pulling, either.

Worrying at his lip, a green ripple of trepidation moving through him, Ranvir pulled back to the tether-space.

A blast of weariness and exhaustion fired into him and he was immediately thrown completely back into his own body. Sweat had pearled on his forehead and he found himself gasping for breath as he bowed over his knees.

Pressing his hands into the grass, they were shaking too badly to keep him upright properly. His arms could barely be straightened, they felt so weak and tired. He knew if he put any more weight on them they would collapse under the strain.

The only things saving Ranvir from complete embarrassment over his sudden exhaustion was the fact that he’d seen it in other students, as they suddenly came back to their body. Though at the time he’d been a little too focused on his own woes, to really pay attention theirs.

He gulped in a few breaths, trying to keep them down for as long as possible. He didn’t know if it helped but he was pretty sure Svenar had mentioned it to one of his students, at one point or another.

Within a few minutes, Ranvir was quickly feeling better and allowed himself, to enter tether-space once more. It felt alright, not too strenuous. Still, he quickly hopped out, not wanting to push it.

He kept waiting and breathing, until the weakness in his bones left and he once more felt steady where he was sitting.

There was still more than half of the class left by this point. Quickly jumping to tether-space then sensing the pressure, it barely took him a minute before awareness of both the tether and the real world filled him.

The tether was already spinning faster, and he noted it was losing some of its upwards curve. Working quickly he once more focused on space between his hands. He wanted to examine the earth beneath him, to see if he noted any difference in the way space acted.

Not that he’d been able to determine much of anything about the behavior of space from his first attempt. Pressing both palms to the grass, as close as he could get them. There was a tiny overlap where his sense was sharpened that also touched the dirt.

The space was more ‘solid’, except it wasn’t. Similar to how there were three different things occupying the previous space without any of them being space, this felt like a single thing occupying this small area without it being space.

Ranvir had to assume he was sensing for it wrong, or not detecting the right things. Either way he wasn’t gaining a lot out of the exercise, and it was far more draining than even pulling the tether.

Retreating back into himself, pushing the pressure out to let himself in, Ranvir found the tether noticeably drooping. It hadn’t gone quite flat, but it was definitely worked.

Black and red frustration filled him, as he left the space entirely. He knew it was better for him but he’d barely managed a minute, if that much, with his ability before his power was worn down.

He just had to hope not pushing it too hard would allow it to recover slightly quicker. So he sat. Impatiently waiting for the weakness that now permeated him to dissipate. It wasn’t more intense, than it had been after his first attempt, when sensing the air, but it felt like it penetrated farther throughout his body. More towards his core than just sitting in his limbs.

Waiting for so long, he had plenty of time to consider his next move. He could use his time within tether-space continuing the—uncertain at best—exercise of stretching his tether. Or he could, like the other students, spend as much time attempting to manipulate space as possible. From which Ranvir felt he’d gained very little.

With a sigh, he imagined the tweezers in his mind, hoping a clearer picture would make them easier to manifest.