Prophecy of the Nexus

Chapter 12

Learning blessings was a thousand times better than weapons training. Though I still had to spend a few hours a week using my handgun and a basic rifle, I spent most of my time with Sir Petra. She taught me things everyone had dreamed about at school. I began to use my power more effectively and soon didn't need to maintain my outstretched arm. Over the weeks, Sir Petra drilled new blessings into me. She was a much harsher teacher than Sir Atticus, but I needed it. Using a blessing was much more challenging than just pointing and pulling a trigger.

Every night, when the other Squires went to relax in the rec room, I would sneak off to the girl's bedroom. There I would open up my lexicon and studied it till the girls came in. I had shown it to Marcus and Lex, who seemed impressed but couldn't make heads or tails of the writing. "How in the angels do you read it?" Lex asked, peering over Marcus' shoulder.

Marcus then turned it upside down and studied the symbols. "I just don't get it," he said. I couldn't help but feel a little smug. They were two of the brightest people I knew, and they couldn't understand something that came naturally to me. However, reading the ghostly instructions was one thing, using a blessing was another.

I had learned how to effectively produce a shield and was now trying to learn how to manipulate my surroundings. I had walked into the Matrix that day and not spotted Sir Petra at our usual spot. However, the book that hit the back of my head told me she was here. "You are too unobservant," she said, appearing from in front of a pile of books. I could have sworn she had gone invisible again. "You must manipulate the world around you and in you. This is the basis of blessings like the truth circle, disorientation field, and-"

"The enlightenment blessing, sir?" I suggested.

"Not quite," Sir Petra said. "That is an interaction of the soul rather than the mind and beyond that the physical world." She opened her hand, and a rush of wind wiped past me. The gust sparkled with the tiny particles of light and wrapped itself around a stack of books. The books twisted and turned like a snake, yet not once did they full over. "Those who master the physical world think they are hotshots, but believe me, they barely know anything. That's why manipulating the mind and connecting to the soul are far more important."

"Is it possible to manipulate a soul, sir?" I said, opening my lexicon to write this all down. When I looked up again, Sir Petra was standing so close I nearly jumped back. She gave me one of her intense stares, meaning she was only going to say this once. "We call that corruption," she said slowly. I thought back to that demon and the ash-black cloud that surrounded me. How it was torn away when it passed through the Halo. "Souls are not supposed to be manipulated. They are pure as they come from the Divine themselves."

"Sir, what causes corruption?" I asked. Sir Petra raised an eye brow at me. "Like I know the act, sir," I said. There were seven unforgivable sins: murder, rape, cannibalism, slavery, prosecution, pillaging, and being a traitor. They had taught it to me both here and at school. It was a classic exam question more because you could write a lot about it rather than it being of any worth. "I know there are unforgivable sins, but why do they wrap a soul into a demon."

There was uncharacteristic silence from Sir Petra. She stepped away from me and frowned at me for a second. I had never seen her hesitate like this before. "Have you spoken to Sir Atticus about this?" She asked. I shook my head. We had glossed over the whole unforgivable sins when we studied them as I already knew them. Sir Petra sighed. "When you commit something unforgivable, you sacrifice your soul to do it, essential severing your connection with the Divine. This leaves a void. This void is filled with corruption, dark energy that twists the world, similar to how I did those books. It is like a lesser form of blessings."