The moment Navia felt the warm sun on her skin, she woke up, remembering the last time she had a morning like that in the Monastery. When she came to train here, whenever she overslept, she would be woken up with a splash of water to her face. Building up from a cup to a whole bucket. She wasn’t used to such hard training, yet in time she embraced it. This routine was like a refreshing breeze for her, recollecting her youth.
As she was preparing to leave her room, she could already hear the shouts of the pupils who didn’t wake up in time. Experiencing the same trials she had to endure.
High Elder Hwuan told her they would meet at sunrise, but he didn’t specify the location, leaving Navia puzzled. She walked around the Monastery, trying to find the Elder. As she walked around, countless memories flooded her mind. Looking at the full canteen, she could see herself sitting in the corner as she was the last one to enter. When everyone was looking alive, her face was near the plate, slightly falling with each closing of her eyes.
Taking the stairs down, she passed the baths, hearing a few giggles as she walked down the corridor. She also used to chat with her friends in the baths, one of the few times they were away from boys and able to calmly enjoy their time without their jokes. A sudden squeak made her smile widen. That sound was enough to tell her what the topic of their conversation was.
“It was so good to be young…” she whispered to herself.
As the sun breached the central plaza, she finally noticed the spot of their meeting, the eastern wall. Thanks to this very place, she began waking up so early. Running to the wall even in her pajamas just to see the sunrise in time.
As she opened the doors to the upper wall, she heard a comment, “Took you long enough.” The man took a deep breath, enjoying the sun and the fresh morning air. “I can see why you began waking up so early in the morning, although I know there was a second reason.” High Elder Hwuan often saw Navia and his son on the wall from the tower on the other corner of the monastery. Back then, he was a scholar without much status.
Just looking at the sun made her head clearer. Shining the light on the veil made it possible to see what was behind it, even if it was only the shadows. Hwuan looked at her aura, still seeing the holes in it. Yet he felt that there was something different about them now.
“Master Taro described what your world looks like, but I need to take a look at myself.” Hwuan sat down with his legs crossed and his right arm extended to the side, waiting for Navia to grab his hand.
Without any hesitation, she sat beside the Elder and grabbed his hand. Both of them closed their eyes. Navia was the first to enter the inner world, and Hwuan had to wait so she could let him in. She tried to look around for him, but then it hit her.
“Where is his hand… Where is his hand…” Navia mumbled as she walked around in panic, looking for Hwuan’s hand. Hearing the shuffling of the sound, she found the hand, sticking out of the soil, and waving around.
Navia pulled the Elder out of the soil without any problem, and the hole made by Hwuan slowly sealed itself. The man tried his best to hide his bewilderment after experiencing a terrifying moment like that. He awkwardly dusted off his robes and looked around the wasteland.
“If I remember correctly… It once was a… forest… Yet there is not a single sign of it.” The Elder was stunned by the view. He listened to both Navia and Taizen when they described their inner worlds. To see something so drastically different made him forget his mouth.
“There was… Now, all there is hard soil and mist all around. Not only that…” As Navia looked up, so did High Elder Hwuan.
He saw the cracks in the sky, something that never happened or at least he never heard of it. Actually, everything that he saw would be described as impossible. “There were cases of the inner world changing… But it would at least bear some resemblance to the previous version. Yet there is not a single sign of a tree or even a single root. The sky is also concerning… The inner worlds are the reflection of our souls, and the souls are bound to the rules of the world. Which meant that the sky wouldn’t be able to have cracks… Yet a single glance made me question all of our teachings…”
Trying to figure out the meaning of this change made Hwuan’s brain itch uncomfortably as if someone was scratching a board near his ear. He then looked at Navia, trying to check her aura. It was common knowledge in the Monastery that someone’s aura was the clearest inside their inner world. Now, when he had a closer look, his eyes opened wide in shock.
The holes he saw earlier weren’t inside her soul; it was something he never expected. It looked like her soul was in pieces and patched up with many different life energies. Her soul was in shambles, somehow stitched up but unable to work properly.
“Navia… Answer me truthfully. When you said you were killed, you meant it literally. You had died back then. You were actually dead.” He felt ridiculous asking a question like that, but he couldn’t shake this feeling off, and he needed a confirmation.
“Yes. I am sure of it. I felt my life slipping away from my body… Next, I woke up with a hole in my armor but not in my body, and there is another sign of my death.” Navia punched the ground with all her might, making her hand bleed. “Doesn’t look like the blood of someone alive… Am I right?”
“Master Taro told me about a curse you mentioned. I take it that’s what you meant?” Elder Hwuan asked, his voice tense.
“Yes… I don’t know if it's connected to the shape my inner world is in, but… Someone else saw my world and pressed me to visit the Monastery. She mentioned that my body was… In good shape, while it couldn’t be said the same for my soul.” They both looked at the sky and the cracks in it.
“I had a look into your soul a few times, and it was easy for me to tell that something was wrong, but I couldn’t tell why. Now that I have a closer look… It is more complicated… How should I put it…” The Elder scratched his chin as he looked for the right words. “The souls you possess are barely your own. It has resemblance to it, but out of its whole, only a spec of it is truly yours.”
Navia didn’t want to fully explain the resurrection, fearing that it might cause a lot of misunderstanding, especially while talking with someone from the Monastery, even when that person is someone close. Soul and Gates were topics very sensitive to them, as those are the things they constantly work on and study.
She didn’t have to think long to connect her resurrection with the state of her soul. Even Sie muttered under her nose that, “He wouldn’t do it on purpose.” Whatever had happened, the process of it failed or at least wasn’t as successful as she had hoped for it to be.
“You meant to say… My soul is barely mine?” Navia asked, unsure if even her question made any sense.
“That’s actually a good way to explain it. Whatever is inside you is barely your soul, it looks almost like most of it is different souls stitched up to yours.” As Hwuan continued explaining, Navia's hand moved toward her sternum.
“Is there a way to repair it? Make it better somehow?” Navia asked, her chest quickly rising and falling. Feeling uneasy with the state she was in, it felt almost like being in an alien body.
“We’ll have to discover how… Healing your soul should make the restoration of your inner world possible. But for now, we have to find a way to make it work… And I may have a theory.” Hwuan had this calculating expression on his face. He spoke to Navia, yet it seemed as if his eyes were not looking at her but something inside him.
“Let’s test it then!” Navia shouted eagerly, wanting to feel like herself. Discovering more about her current state made her change her perspective a lot. She felt as if she were inside a broken doll with its heart shattered into pieces, somehow still alive but not entirely.
“Follow me.” Suddenly, Hwuan vanished as he left Navia’s inner world.
Once she opened her eyes, the man was already standing near the door to the tower. Navia walked right behind him, waiting for some kind of explanation. The answer wouldn’t come quickly as the High Elder was lost in a cloud of thoughts. Trying to come up with the best option, he stopped as he heard shouts from the training ground.
Looking through the window, he glanced at the pupils training with Lio. “You will renew your learning experience at the Monastery. Starting today, you are a trainee under the Monastery's wing.” Hwuan pointed his open hand at the training ground while facing Navia with a warm and welcoming smile, as if he were no longer her relative but a teacher.