[The Daniels Estate, Havok, Piasu, Ryomania, 11:00 AM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
We didn't really complain, the three of us moved to the couch.
Cathy glanced at me, stretching lazily on the couch. Looking grumpy as ever.
Cathy Ariston: "You guys must be excited to have some steak, huh? Lucky you…"
Jack leaned over and whispered into my ear, loud enough for her to hear.
Jack Daniels: "I can't believe she hasn't freaked out yet, dude! At this point I'm surprised by her willpower, and her metabolism!"
Cathy lifted her hand and made a pinching gesture, grabbing one of his ponytails with gravity and pulling on it gently.
Jack Daniels: "Ow, ow, ow… Okay, I'm sorry! No more hungry gossip… Swear."
Cathy Ariston: "I'm right here, jerk… Gee, do you know how tiring it is to even grab something with gravity? It's like my whole palm is a hundred times bigger than my body. Or, at least, that's what it feels like."
She scoffed and turned to the side, letting go of his hair, a slight smirk on her face despite her frustration.
James Karawei: "Well, at least it counts as a workout, right?"
I smiled gently towards her and leaned back on the couch.
Erika soon came over with four large plates of steak. Beautifully plated with a side serving of asparagus and well seasoned.
Erika Daniels: "Alright, here you go, I accelerated the cooking process with Flow, cause we have things to do, brats!"
She plopped down next to me on my right side.
Erika Daniels: "Oh and before I forget, here."
She turned and handed me the wooden spoon she held earlier.
James Karawei: "Uh… thanks? What do I do with it?"
As I asked the question, the spoon in my hand began shifting and turned into a wooden mask.
Erika Daniels: "It's a copy of my bat, you'll need it for later."
The mask then began shifting again and the wood turned into tendrils that made their way up my body and attached to my face, forming a mask again.
Erika Daniels: "It will react to the dormant Flow within your body and because of the Flow I've imbued it with, it'll change based on the situation to help you out. That way you can stay hidden if you decide to leave."
I reached up to touch it, it almost shivered beneath my fingers before going solid.
James Karawei: "Gee, thanks… that's totally not a weird thing to give someone before a meal."
Erika barked out a laugh, lightly slapping my shoulder.
Erika Daniels: "Oh shush, just go with it, it'll help you later! Alright, let's eat!"
Cathy glanced over at me, leaning closer.
Cathy Ariston: "What the bloody hell kind of gift is that?! Take it off, you're ruining your beauty."
Without hesitation, Cathy snatched the mask off my face with a casual flick of her wrist, it floated gently on the table.
Erika swallowed her mouthful of food and looked over at Cathy.
Erika Daniels: "Hey! Careful! That's a copy of The Solar Branch, my bat. It's not something you just... snatch. Which reminds me, after we eat, we're going to continue the training. This little Fracture problem you've got is the first thing we have to fix."
The mask trembled on the table before jumping up and attaching itself to my right arm, turning back into strips of wood and wrapping around it like a bandage.
James Karawei: "Guess it's stuck with me for now. Alright, let's eat…"
So, the three of us began eating, with Cathy quietly thinking about everything that's happened so far.
She tried her very best to not look at the food, despite her stomach growling.
It's been two or so days since she'd last eaten.
Since this whole thing began.
[The Daniels Estate, Havok, Piasu, Ryomania, 12:00 PM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
An hour passed since we'd eaten.
Jack, Cathy and I were being escorted to the gym by Erika.
We now had to train on our own.
Erika Daniels: "This is it! The large gym of the mansion!"
Erika said cheerfully as she pushed open two large metal doors and stepped inside.
Jack Daniels: "Woah! You actually cleaned the floor? Last time I was here there was a big puddle of sweat by the front door—"
Jack said with a mouthful of steak, he had kept a slice in his hand from our meal earlier.
Erika nudged his shoulder.
Erika Daniels: "I didn't clean a damn thing, Amelia did! And that wasn't sweat! That was water! Okay?! Don't ever bring that up again. And stop munching on the steak already. Whatever mess you make, you clean up.
Erika Daniels: "Alright, brats, no more time for explanations. Cathy, imagine your soul as a flame. Close your eyes, then tell me the color and whatever else you see. Quick!"
Cathy glanced at us, unsure whether or not to make a retort or obey, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
Cathy Ariston: "I... I think I see a purple flame? Inside it there's like a... a shard maybe. A weird prism of some kind, and... some strange dust, violet. Or purple-ish? I don't know. What's this about anyway?"
Erika sighed in relief, ignoring her question entirely, and leaned on her baseball bat, which just appeared out of her hand.
Erika Daniels: "Great. Now imagine the flame and the dust disappearing, leaving only your Divinity behind. That's the prism thingy."
Cathy's eyebrows perked up as she focused.
Cathy Ariston: "It's a little difficult... It feels like I'm being smothered by a silk blanket. But... I think I did it! I can only see the prism shard now!"
Jack and I exchanged a surprised glance.
Cathy stopped mid-hover.
She was on the ground, finally grounded for the first time since her Divinity awakened.
Her aura was completely off.
Jack Daniels: "Woo! Cathy! You're not hovering! Let's gooooooo!"
He cheered, clapping his hands.
I also couldn't help but smile.
James Karawei: "Now you're a controlled spectacle, good job Cathy!"
Erika smirked as she looked between the two of us before Cathy snapped out of her concentration, her aura flaring as she lifted back into the air.
Cathy Ariston: "Uh oh, I didn't mean to—You distracted me!"
Erika's face narrowed into a frown, groaning.
Erika Daniels: "Jack! You moron... Be quiet! This is important!"
Jack Daniels: "What? Oh, sorry…"
She tapped Jack's forehead with her bat before turning back to Cathy.
Jack Daniels: "Owie..." He said with a fake pout as he rubbed his forehead.
Erika Daniels: "You can open your eyes Cathy, but remember that mental image. The more you practice, the easier it will be to control it—like flipping a switch. As long as you have it in your mind's eye, you won't hover. Trust me."
Cathy opened her eyes again.
This time slowly, and looked down at herself. A wide grin spread across her face as she began to float back up, focusing on the same mental image of a purple flame.
Cathy Ariston: "Oh you've gotta be taking the piss."
Cathy looked back up at us, grinning fully for the first time in a while, feeling excited.
Jack Daniels: "Yeah! Woo! Good job, Cat-Girl!"
Cathy's eye twitched in frustration and she lost concentration again at Jack's comment, her aura flickered to life and she began floating again.
Erika Daniels: "Jack! What did I just tell you?!"
Jack looked up at Erika, still chewing on the small bit of steak he kept from earlier.
Cathy Ariston: "Ew. Gross."
Erika groaned again and snatched it from him, throwing it expertly into a trash can across the room.
Erika Daniels: "I don't even wanna hear it— Go focus on The Ten Steps, now!"
Jack, fake sobbing, went over to the boxing sacks in the back.
Erika Daniels: "James, go with him and try out The Solar Branch, well, the copy at least—The mask, if you think, it'll change shape to a bat again. Focus on your soul just like Cathy. Or at least the mental image of it. You should see the physical manifestation of Serene Garden. Focus on it."
She walked over to some dumbbells, instantly lifting them without breaking a sweat. Propping her bat against the wall.
Erika Daniels: "Meanwhile, I'll be over here, supervising Cathy as she tries to master her aura and get a few reps in—Alright! Go on now!"
Neither me or Jack complained further.
I glanced at Cathy as she struggled to concentrate and sighed. Making my way to the back of the gym.
I held up my right arm, focusing on the wooden strips and thinking of the shape of Erika's bat.
The wooden strips began turning into a perfect copy of The Solar Branch which fit perfectly in my hand.
It was different from that rusty pipe I had previously in more ways than one.
I turned to Jack, who had been punching away at the boxing sack. Pouting like a petulant child.
James Karawei: "Well this is very convenient…"
I muttered as I turned it over in my hand, Jack suddenly stepped closer, grinning, his earlier 'sadness' forgotten.
Jack Daniels: "I know right? My sister's so cool. She can basically make anything with that wood stuff! Though, that bat's weird enough on its own—Say, what happened to your other weapon? That pipe?"
James Karawei: "Oh… Uh… I lost it in the fight with Normand, It must still be somewhere in the Redwoods. I don't know. I feel better with this though, it's nothing like a pipe. It can… change."
I paused, walking over to the boxing bag next to his, resting with my back against it.
James Karawei: "It wasn't much, just a rusty thing Jasmine had before she got... taken. She was the one who found it, I think. I just took it from her."
Jack walked over to his boxing bag and started punching it with more gusto, contemplating my words.
Jack Daniels: "Yeah, I remember. I was there."
Jack wiped the sweat from his brow, pausing for a second. He glanced at me, a thoughtful look crossing his face.
Jack Daniels: "But it was just a random piece of junk! It was useful for a while I guess— Bat's are cooler anyway, especially my sister's! Erika's so awesome with it! Remember that front flip she did when she kicked me earlier? It was awesome! But..."
He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes darkened slightly, but his smile didn't vanish.
Jack Daniels: "Man, it's hard to believe Jasmine's gone… I still don't understand how The Boss took her! I mean you were right there, right? I'm sure you could've—"
I grabbed his shoulder and shook my head.
James Karawei: "Trust me, we couldn't have."
I could feel a familiar ache in my chest.
It had been hard to accept that Jasmine—one of the few people who actually felt close to me—wasn't there anymore.
I knew little to nothing about her, especially now.
The weight of her absence suddenly hit me, and harder than I expected.
James Karawei: "You're... right. I-I know. She looked like she was ready for anything. It's—It's messed up. And now? Now she's gone. The Boss took her and we couldn't do a damn thing about it. We were like buzzing flies around him. Even Cathy couldn't do anything."
I looked down at my hands, I felt fury building up inside me again. Jack grabbed my shoulder suddenly, chuckling.
Jack Daniels: "Hey... It's okay bro! We'll get her back. We have to. I don't care how long it takes. The Boss won't get away with this! If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us! She's not just some pawn for their games. She's a cardinal."
The word 'cardinal' sent a shiver down my spine and I suddenly felt very nauseous. I clung to the boxing bag as more forgotten memories flew past my mind, accompanied by strange voices.
A walk in the Redwoods, with the gentle voice of a girl saying "You did enough!"
Jumping over some fences. The voice of an older man, saying "It's okay... I'm proud of you."
Talking to a seemingly nice old lady. The voice of something garbled, something inhuman saying "Your best is good enough for me. For us."
Not knowing is what made me sick.
Jack Daniels: "Jasmine deserved better than that... Don't you think we all do? Y'know... deserve something more? Hey, are you okay?"
I nodded, my eyes hardening with resolve.
James Karawei: "Yeah. We'll find a way to bring her back. It might take time, but we'll do whatever it takes. And next time, I won't be caught off guard. I won't be weak. Not like I was when she was taken. Erika's right, we have to train. No matter what, we have to adapt."
We nodded in unison and stepped up to the boxing sacks, Jack already began hitting his bag with precision.
Jack Daniels: "First Step: Apex…" His eyes began glowing again as he muttered those words.
I couldn't shake off hearing those voices, seeing those memories—They didn't stick with me.
Jack noticed me getting lost in my head again and looked over.
Jack Daniels: "Just focus on the present, dude— It's a gift! Use it! The bat, I mean. That's what Erika said. We already know you can throw hands, but how good are you with a weapon?"
James Karawei: "Huh? Oh... yeah... sorry. Thanks."
He nodded in response and continued punching his bag, faster.
I began hitting the boxing sack with The Solar Branch. But I could feel the resolve growing between us.
Jasmine wasn't gone, not really.
We just had to find her.
[The Daniels Estate, Havok, Piasu, Ryomania, 12:10 PM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
After about ten minutes or so of practicing hits with the bat, I took a little break, stepped back to survey the situation.
Cathy was still by the entrance focusing on her mental image, eyes fully shut now in frustration.
Her aura was turned off completely, she had been on the ground for the past five minutes fully.
"She sure looks concentrated, I wonder what my soul looks like… Maybe I can try that out?" I thought to myself.
Erika had started aggressively bench pressing way way too much on her right.
And Jack was passed out in a star fish position on the floor, the faint white aura around his eyes pouring out of them like gentle mist. He looked exhausted.
"Right, well, I guess I can try out what Cathy's doing. I'm curious as to how Serene Garden might look…" I thought to myself.
I took a deep breath and did as Erika told Cathy earlier and held up my hand and closed my eyes, concentrating on my soul.
At first, I didn't see anything.
Just the black before my closed eyes, I had found myself in a large black void.
But then, as I continued concentrating.
I saw it—
A swirling mass of every single color and matching colored lights, like a spiral galaxy. In the center of it there was a large white light, on its edges there were four rainbow points, making an almost cross-like shape. The top point had a cyan hue to it with rainbow colors on its edges, the bottom one had an orange tint to it with rainbow colors on its edges, the right point had a purple tint to it with rainbow colors on its edges and the last one, on the left, had a blue tint to it with rainbow colors on its edges.
It began changing forms.
And I heard a voice echo in my mind... A very familiar voice.
The same voice I heard in my dream before going to school.
The same voice I heard when I was younger, years ago.
???: "It is not time… Remember, James, there'll always be a rainbow after the rain. Then you'll see it fully."
The voice said over and over again.
???: "Then you'll see it fully… then you'll see it fully…" It repeated, its voice having a strange echoey and ethereal quality to it.
As I focused more and more the orb began taking shape, now resembling a solid circle, with the white light at the center being condensed into a white sphere, the cross with the four points collapsed onto it, giving the white sphere a rainbow outline.
The voice repeated again, and again.
???: "Then you'll see it fully…"
The rainbow circle of colors seemed to expand, growing even bigger but darkening in hue and nuance.
Rainbow mists or gasses of all kinds started erupting from it, spreading forth in the void-like darkness I was seeing. The white sphere in the center seemed to also grow, and inside of it there was another rainbow formation of points to take the form of a cross and it contracted inwards. The cross itself was glowing fully white, only with its four points being rainbow.
Then as the circle became smaller, all the lights and colors seemed to solidify. The cross at the center collapsed and turned into the pupil of an eye, being completely rainbow. The outside layers that darkened seemed to do the complete opposite and grow even brighter in color.
Around the eye itself there were sparkling lights everywhere, like many many rainbow galaxies, spiraling, twirling.
The center of the pupil was completely pitch black, but the outline of that darkness was glowing white and there were flecks of glowing white light within it. It then turned cyan, and blue, and all the other colors before being cyan again.
???: "It was... beautiful. It just stared at me… I loved it." The voice said, stopping its earlier repetition.
And it changed again.
The colors and galaxies and gasses all started swirling along the eyeball as it began spinning, it started collapsing into itself again.
???: "Swirling and swirling and…" The voice calmly repeated.
It took the form of a prism, with four edges, matching the earlier colors of the point of the cross.
Cyan on top, orange on bottom, purple to the right and blue to the left.
In the center of the giant prism, the rainbow conglomerate took the form of a rosebud.
A large, beautiful, glowing, rainbow, iridescent, rosebud.
At the center stood a white light, small tendrils of light erupting out of it like a star, each of them, and even its edges, lined with the same rainbow glow. And even further in the light, the shape of what looked almost like a throne.
The outer void itself around me had a rainbow edge to it, I now saw that the darkness wasn't unlimited, I was in a big black bubble. The rainbow edge lit up the 'sky' around me, alongside the rose.
???: "The rainbow after the rain…" The voice calmly concluded.
This was it.
This was The Divinity Of Infinity. I was completely stunned by the beautiful sight before me within my mind.
I even felt Keito Nakamura's Holiness somewhere deep inside of the rosebud.
The voice rang out loudly, echoing over the void, but not nearly loud enough to hurt.
???: "I Am—"
[The Daniels Estate, Havok, Piasu, Ryomania, 12:30 PM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
My eyes completely snapped open.
I heard the sound of a crack and many droplets of sand pouring out.
I saw Jack landing a brutal punch on the boxing sack, splitting it in two.
Jack Daniels: "Uh oh… I think I went overboard on that one…" He said to himself, glancing back towards Erika to make sure she wasn't looking.
She was completely engrossed in working out, now she was on a treadmill, running at full speed, still watching Cathy remain completely still, focusing on keeping her aura off.
I couldn't believe what happened, my vision was blurry and tears pricked the corners of my eyes.
Jack Daniels: "Dude! You okay? You've been zoning out for like twenty hours!"
Jack suddenly grabbed my shoulders, shaking me gently.
My face paled even further at his words, in shock. I pushed off of him.
James Karawei: "What?! Twenty Hours?! But I... How?—"
Jack suddenly burst out laughing, grabbing my right shoulder.
Jack Daniels: "Bwahahaha! You should see the look on your face… Oh man… No, dude, it's only been like twenty minutes. Still crazy though."
He instantly straightened up and crossed his arms, expecting an answer out of me.
James Karawei: "Oh… Wow… You—Nevermind, listen! My Divinity is separated from Mr. Nakamura's Holiness! Which means that if I focus..."
On complete instinct I held up my hand and created a rainbow bubble. It floated above my hand.
I was entirely overwhelmed, but I felt like I understood something massive about my powers, my Divinity.
James Karawei: "No way… I didn't think It'd work… I can do this! I don't need a rose to make these bubbles. It should be easier now to understand it!"
I extended my hand, the bubble hovered in front of my palm, following along, and the bubble shot toward my own boxing sack, bursting through and creating a small hole, sand pouring out.
Jack and I couldn't help but grin.