Coconino National Forest, Sedona, Arizona - 8:28 PM


    Our trail was dark, but it was easily lit up by Glaraphel’s flaming sword and bright halo. While it wasn’t something necessary for me, Della had no such perception powers to help her out. The Angel’s light did cast sinister shadows from the trees and brush surrounding us, but if it bothered her she didn’t show it.


    Ahead of us, she was Pushing small rocks along our path. It was stop and go, and we passed them by. When we did, she simply found another and repeated it. While her Mental Point pool wasn’t nearly as robust as mine, she still had a good amount since she had maxed her stats. As long as she continued moving small objects, the strain wouldn’t be too much.


    “Remember, a Warmind’s telekinetic abilities are all about visualization,” I told her as she let out a small, disgruntled noise when we passed another of her rocks. She had been so excited when she had Pushed the first one, but it hadn’t gotten much easier than that.


    I felt her compose herself before she responded. “Yes, I do remember,” she said more calmly than her aura felt. “It’s just a big leap between visualizing something and putting it to practice. Not that I’m complaining, I’m just saying.”


    “I’m well aware. This is why I told you that a Warmind must always see. If you don’t see, then you can’t affect the world,” I continued. “What are you visualizing?”


    Della frowned. “I’m just picturing the rocks moving ahead of us. Like, they’re here, and I picture them to be there instead.”


    “Believe it or not, that’s rather advanced. Visualizing the actual movement of objects is how I do it now because I fully believe that the world bends to my will,” I said with a chuckle. She looked at me like she wasn’t sure about my ego, and I shrugged. “I have to, you know? This is my class. Remember the little flavor text when you first received it?”


    She must not have, because she swiped the air in front of her and navigated her menus. “The Warmind is a powerful psychic warrior with the ability to alter their surroundings on a whim,” she read aloud. “If allowed to grow, Warminds can create and destroy with but a thought, and even alter some laws of reality.”


    “Exactly right,” I said as if she hadn’t just read it. “We have to think big, because the world must obey us. Don’t think of it as the system reacting to your will, but reality submitting to it. You come from a pretty intense family, so I think you understand what I mean.”


    “Don’t be so nice with reality when you’re telling it what you need it to do,” she translated. “I guess I could be a little more aggressive.”


    I nodded. “Right, but let me give you the next lesson now that you’ve had time to play around. Right now, while you’re still learning, it’s best to keep your mind open. Mindset is a really, really weird thing and it can trap you sometimes. There’s always a risk that, if you get really good at moving rocks, then you’ll struggle with branches or something. What did you do before the system arrived?”


    “I was a web designer,” she answered. “Freelance, but I built websites for people around town. Business was just starting to pick up with a bunch of referrals from Phoenix before everything went to shit.”


    “Good,” I said. “Alright, that’s good. So there’s a Warmind in, well, it doesn’t matter where. He’s a graphic designer, spends a lot of time on his computer for work. What he did was visualize a mouse pointer.”


    Della blinked. “Like, he just imagines clicking on the rock and moving it around like a picture on a screen?”


    “Exactly!” I said with a snap of my fingers. “He’d say he would drag it across reality. If there was something he was having problems with or just couldn’t concentrate on, then he’d crop it first. In his mind, I mean. That was the easiest thing to visualize.”


    “Okay, that makes sense,” she replied while nodding.


    “There is one issue with that, though,” I warned. “He really only got good at moving one thing, and he struggled with two once he was able to split his focus. Now, I can’t fault him for that; being a Warmind is hard, it’s something that needs to be practiced constantly. If you don’t have a migraine at the end of the day because your Mental Points pool isn’t empty, then you aren’t training hard enough.”


    “All forms of combat need training in order to be mastered,” Glaraphel said. It was the first time ‘d spoken since we had left the trailhead. “Even if you are a natural prodigy, which are very rare, you must maintain discipline and continue striving towards perfection.”


    “That’s a good point, Glaraphel,” I told the Power, and he nodded. “Don’t ever assume that you’re the best even if you get mildly good at it. Even if you’re at the top of your community when it comes to power. Especially then. There’s always room to improve.”


    “I’m certainly not going to stop. Once I get it down, I’m sure I’ll be more than happy to use it for the most mundane of tasks,” Della said before looking up at me. “You said you just visualize the world changing and it does, but what did you do when you first became a Warmind?”


    “Hands,” I answered, lifting mine up to waggle my fingers. “I visualized hands picking things up, throwing them around, spinning them. Would actually do the movements, too, which helps. Wonderful things, hands, until you realize that you only have two of them.”


    She tilted her head. “Like… how you only have one pointer on a computer?”


    “Got it in one. You’re quick, Della Luna,” I said with a grin. “It’s something the mind does. You only use one pointer, so it thinks there should only be one. You only have two hands, so it thinks there should only be two. It’s a literal mental block on your power, right? The good news is that you can break through it with time and practice.”


    “How did you break through?” she asked.


    I didn’t answer right away as I looked up. The moon was starting to move across the sky at a noticeable speed. In the distance, I could see thin black lines hanging in the air. They weren’t big enough for anything to come through, but it was becoming clear that we were starting to get into the thick of things.


    “By changing how I did things. You know sometimes games have telekinesis in them? They always have effects that tell you when it’s working. Little wispy trails, big light beams, auras only you can see. I switched from hands to big light beams going from my head to the things I wanted to move. There’s no restriction on how many beams I can have because it wasn’t something my mind limited. By then, I was pretty decent at it. Not as good as I am now, of course, but I had everything down for the various abilities so it was easy to manipulate them.”


    “Don’t play many games,” she said apologetically. “If I had known they’d come in handy, I might’ve.”Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    “No worries,” I replied with a smile before jerking my head towards a bigger rock than the ones she had been focusing on. “Why don’t you try the mouse pointer technique on that one. Feel free to use your hands, too, if you want. It does help, even if sometimes you don’t want people to know what you’re up to. And, once you get good at it, you can use it to trick people.”


    “While I do not condone being deceitful, there are few truths on the battlefield,” Glaraphel said. “Being straightforward in combat, acting without feints or techniques, will often see you dead. In war, you do what is necessary. So long as evil is vanquished, that is the only truth that matters.”


    Della raised her hand when the Power started talking, but then turned to look at him with a strange look on her face.


    “He’s an Inquisitor, so he’s pretty much always like this,” I said before Orbiting the rock, which we had gotten ahead of, so that it was in front of us. Glaraphel grunted as if to confirm my words. “Go ahead and give it a try.”


    She looked away from our winged companion and nodded. Della took a breath and pointed at the rock. It wiggled forward back and forth like the ones before it, moving ahead at a slow pace.


    “Alright, now just yeet it out of here. Hit it with as hard a Push as you can,” I ordered.


    With another small disgruntled noise, Della flicked her index finger. The rock rolled away, though it didn’t make it very far due to digging into the trail. That was simply a result of using her hand.


    “And that’s the next lesson,” I told her when she frowned. “Using your hand is a big help, there’s no denying it, but it is ultimately a crutch. Learn from it, and realize when to discard it.”


    “I understand, but why is this a lesson?” she asked, confused.


    “You pointed at it and Pushed, and what happened?”


    “It went through the sand?”


    “It did,” I agreed. “Before, you were Pushing with the intent to make it go forward. A Warmind’s Push, Pull, and later Orbit can originate anywhere around any part of their body. Because you were only focusing on making it go straight, you were instinctively pushing it from a level somewhere down at your feet.”


    “Ohhhh, but because I was focused on where the rock was based on my finger, the point of origin or whatever was coming from much higher up,” she excitedly deduced. “So it was Pushed into the ground instead of just further ahead of us.”


    I smiled. “You’re getting it. Point of origin is a really good term for it. Generally, you’re not going to Push things along the ground in order to attack enemies. You’re going to Lift it first, then shoot it off,” I said, Orbiting the rock back in front of us. “So go ahead and practice that. Use your hand, Lift it to about head level, and then Push it off as hard as you can.”


    Della nodded and pointed at the rock again. I knew that the exercises were harder because we were still walking, but I thought she could handle it. She had the aptitude for psychic-based classes, which was why I wasn’t worried that she had a knack for this. It was only a little bit like learning to run before you could walk.


    The rock slowly rose into the air, her hand directing it upwards. Once it was a little higher than her head, she pulled her finger back and flicked it forward. It lost a few inches of height as she switched from Lift to Push, but it shot forward until it disappeared into the darkness beyond Glaraphel’s light.


    “I did it!” she gleefully exclaimed with a clenched fist. “I’d been trying to Lift before but it was so much harder than Push.”


    “Good work, player Della Luna” the Angel praised.


    “Just Della is fine,” she insisted.


    Glaraphel crossed his arms. “I may have to listen to Av… Anthony, but my job is only to protect you. Player Della Luna will be fine.”


    “Intense,” I repeated, shrugging when she looked at me. “It’s the hand thing. Whatever makes it easier to visualize makes it easier to perform. Just remember what?”


    “It’s a crutch,” she answered immediately as her eyes darted across the trail for her next target. “Use it when I have to, practice without it when I can.”


    “That’s it.” Before I could say more, a text box appeared in front of me.


    <<<>>>


    [[Patron Quest: Break the Scenario!]]


    Hello, slow motion Ant and friends.


    It’s been some time, and I’m here to tell you that you’re going to be in shouting distance of Talafraxis any moment now. Once the sun comes up for you, I’m guessing. If you want to get his attention so he doesn’t go after the town while you’re meandering your way there, it’s about that time.


    In addition, I want Della and Glaraphel to be safe, so I’m putting down some really heavy optional objectives. You may think them harsh, but I’m giving you a challenge in exchange for some good things here.


    Objective: Defeat Talafraxis, Lord of Otherside.


    Optional Objectives: (1) Della reaches the end of the scenario above 90% hit points, (2) Glaraphel reaches the end of the scenario above 75% hit points.


    Reward: +10,000 points, Holy Aquacutter.


    Optional Reward: +5,000 points for each Optional Objective met, a picture if both the quest are 100% completed.


    <<<>>>


    “What are you grinning about?” Della asked.


    “Got a quest from my Patron,” I answered.


    “You received a mission from the Highest Sister?” Glaraphel asked, his voice finally taking on some emotion.


    Della looked confused. “Highest Sister?”


    “It’s a long story, don’t ask,” I said before the Power could say something. “She has given me a quest to defeat the Lord of Otherside, Talafraxis.”


    “Talawho?” Della interrupted.


    “Talafraxis, the scenario boss,” I explained. “But she also wants me to make sure you two are safe. High HP, essentially, by the time this is done. Even you, Glaraphel.”


    “A holy mission,” he said enthusiastically. “I will do my very best to accomplish it.”


    The area around us became brighter as the sun rose behind us. I stopped and observed our shadows, causing the other two to do the same. The black lines I saw before were now placed sporadically around us. Aside from the light, nothing had changed. There were no enemies or shifts in the environment. I was about to fix that.


    “Dipper, the administrator, always has Talafraxis send his minions into Sedona three days after the first scenario ends,” I told them, turning around as I retrieved the Loaner Sword from my inventory. “Now, we’re going to be here for a while. Seven days, like you heard. I’m actually a little surprised that Antonio didn’t pick up on that, but that’s fine. Either way, we need to distract the boss and his minions. We still have a while to go so they’ll come in waves, but be vigilant and prepare for combat.”


    “I am ready,” Glaraphel announced.


    “I’m not, but I suppose it’s a good thing I have a Guardian Angel,” Della said nervously.


    “I will protect you with my life, as I have been directed.”


    Della nodded. “Reassuring.”


    “It should be, he can’t lie,” I said with a smile. Turning around, I lifted the Loaner Sword of Coyote and shouted. “Talafraxis, Lord of the Otherside, hear me now and tremble!”


    The black lines around us all spread open, causing Della to jump in surprise. Glaraphel immediately moved closer to her to defend. Strange, clearly inhuman eyes looked around the Arizonan landscape before focusing on us. They all bore a different colors with multiple rings around the iris, and I could almost feel the weight of their gaze.


    “These are my words!” I announced, pointing the sword at the nearest eye. “You’re a fuckin’ bitch!”


    “Wait, what?” Della asked, her nervousness failing her.


    “That’s right, you heard me!” I said as I waved the sword in the air. “Fuckin’! Bitch! My name is Anthony Franklin, and as God-Emperor of Earth and all upon it, I challenge you for the fate of our two worlds! You win, you get Earth! I win, I get Otherside! Take it if you’re not a weak little coward!”


    “Is that really okay?” she asked. “Betting the world, I mean.”


    “Taunting an opponent into making a mistake is also a time-honored tradition in war,” Glaraphel stated quietly. It sounded like he had more to say, something about my lie perhaps, but he kept that to himself.


    “Absolutely right,” I said as I looked around.


    The eyes in the rifts were all narrowed now, and I could see a very human rage in them. Around us, creatures began to emerge from the shadows. They took on the shape of man but had no features, like clean slates of black skin, except for the head. A circle of white replaced their faces, and were constantly shifting. Male, female, two eyes, three eyes, four mouths, five mouths; the only consistency was that they were inconsistent.


    “Tulpas,” Glaraphel muttered.


    “What are Tulpas?” Della asked as they started approaching us.


    “Imaginary friends, basically,” I told her. “Well? Get shooting some rocks. I’ll help soon.”


    The look the new Warmind gave me was priceless, and I smiled back at her.