#aj22writes

No one said anything. The Dueling Hearts looked at each other. They were all hurt, and tired, and the thought of training was, alone, enough to make them even more hurt and tired. This time, Jo didn’t hesitate to speak for the group. She frowned, and said, “Wil, I’m sorry, I know that we don’t have a lot of time to get ready, but we’re not in any shape to train today. We need time to recover.”

She said it like she was surprised to have to say it, like she was explaining the obvious to someone. Wilson was a martial artist. He knew the affect that hard training could have on a body that simply wasn’t ready for it. Beginning their training now could end up causing far more harm than good. The suggestion that the Dueling Hearts begin their training immediately was insane.

Wilson knew that, though. He smiled at Jo in a knowing way. “Oh, of course, you need time to recover,” he agreed. “That’s exactly what today’s lesson will focus on.”

“I don’t understand,” Jo told him.

Wilson smiled at her again, and a thoughtful look passed across his face. After a beat of a second or so, he said, “You all know that increased amounts of life energy can help people to heal faster.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement, and yet Jo and the other Dueling Hearts all nodded in affirmation.

“That’s all well and good,” Wilson explained, “for someone who has the ability to harness external life energy, or someone who specializes in, or knows someone who specializes in, using Sol and life energy to heal. But that isn’t the case for everyone, and,” he looked at Jo, “some of us wouldn’t be any better off even if we did.”

Wilson approached Jo, and looked her right in the eyes, “You, Miss Sieger, are at a disadvantage compared to the majority of fighters. The nature of your Sol means that, when it comes to healing, you are restricted to your own life energy.”

Jo was a little surprised. She couldn’t remember the last time that Wilson had brought up her unnatural Sol. He was aware of it, of course, he’d just never seemed to care enough to bring it up, choosing to instruct her in ways that were best suited to her overall. Her first instinct, especially after the recent events at the Megadojo, was to be offended by Wilson brashness, but she was just exhausted enough that she couldn’t find to energy to feel as offended as she wanted to. Wilson continued speaking, and she was faced with the truth that he was not, in fact, being offensive, and that he had only brought up her Sol out of necessity.

“What happens,” Wilson asked, “when a Sol fighter forces their Sol and life energies to mix?”

“Both energies flare up,” Jen answered eagerly, “and someone who knows how can take control of the increased Sol energy to create an aura.”

Wilson nodded, “That’s correct, but only in part.”

Jen looked surprised. She wasn’t used to someone calling her knowledge into question.

“Very few fighters know this,” Wilson continued, pacing back and forth again, “but when a fighter mixes their energies together, creating an aura from the resulting spike in Sol is not their only option. Someone who knows how can choose to seize the increased life energy, and create an aura from it instead. It’s not possible to create an aura from Sol and an aura from life energy at the same time, and an aura made from life energy doesn’t increase one’s speed and strength, but it does infuse the fighter’s body with high amounts of their own life energy, continuously, for as long as it is active.”

It took a second to realize what Wilson was suggesting, but once that realization struck, Jo’s eyes lit up. Her mind was flooded with new possibilities. “Wait,” she exclaimed, “you’re saying that I can create a healing aura? That there’s a way for me to recover from fights faster?”

“Not you specifically,” Wilson replied, “but yes, the technique that I plan to teach all of you today can help all of you to heal much more quickly from injuries entirely on your own. It is not a fast method of healing by default. A healing aura is limited in its potency by the intensity of the energy that is generated to create it, just like a Sol aura, but it will heal your body over time, and even restore some of your stamina.”

“It makes sense,” Jen said, almost to herself. “I’m really surprised that none of us thought to try something like this before.”

“It isn’t all that surprising,” said Jo, just as thoughtfully as her cousin. “I remember hearing since I was a kid that making an aura out of Sol was the pinnacle of what could be done by mixing energies. It’s all I focused on for a long time, and as soon as I worked out how to do it, I just kind of stopped thinking about it.”

“This life aura thing sounds great,” Tucker announced excitedly. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but my fighting style involves getting hit a lot.”

He said it in a way that made you wonder if he was serious or not. Maybe it was how tired they were, or how thrilling it was to learn something new about something that they already knew so well, but Jo and Jen and Tucker all felt like laughing, and they almost did. The first chuckles were upon their lips when Sara interrupted their sudden happy mood.

“But I can’t create an aura.”

All eyes turned toward Sara. Jo’s stomach dropped. She’d completely forgotten about Sara’s limitations compared to the others. Even Jen, who hadn’t quite worked out how to create a proper aura, could still manifest her Sol in a similar manner.

“I’m aware of that,” Wilson told Sara, his tone straightforward, but not harsh. “It may take a little extra work, but I think you will also be able to master this technique within the time that we have. The principles behind creating the two auras are similar, but not exactly the same. It is technically possible for someone to master the creation of a life aura, and never manage to create an aura from their Sol even once.”

“No,” Sara began, “you don’t-.” Then she stopped talking abruptly, and looked away from the others.

“What is it, young lady?” Wilson asked.

“It’s nothing,” Sara replied, though she didn’t look him in the eyes, “if you think you can teach me how to do this, then let’s do it.”

Wilson eyed her for several seconds, but in the end, he seemed to decide that he was satisfied with Sara’s reply. He looked one more time at each of the Dueling Hearts in turn, “Then that’s that. You all know what the focus of today’s training will be. Meditate, mix your Sol and life energies together, and try to create a healing aura. It will not be easy, but it will not put a substantial strain on your bodies, either, and should you succeed, your injuries will begin to heal themselves. I will be meditating as well. Disturb me only if you need my assistance, or you manage to create the aura.”

He stepped past the Dueling Hearts, and he walked to the far end of the training floor. Slowly, he lowered himself into a sitting position. He crossed his legs, pressed his fingertips together, closed his eyes, and began to breathe slowly and deliberately. The four Dueling Hearts lined up, and dropped to the floor as well, following suit.

They meditated for hours, taking periodic breaks only to use the bathroom, and to recharge, taking advantage of the stock of protein bars and bottled water that Wilson kept in a fridge in the back corner. Jo was surprised by how difficult it was to do as Wilson had asked. He’d said that creating an aura out of life energy wasn’t like creating one out of Sol energy, that it sounded more similar than it was, and he had reiterated that point when Tucker had, twice, interrupted Wilson’s meditation to complain, but as time passed, and afternoon threatened to encroach on evening, Jo found that she was genuinely surprised by how right he was.

It was around four-thirty in the afternoon when Wilson finally, suddenly, ended his own meditation, stood, and addressed the Dueling Hearts again. “I think that that will be enough for today,” he announced. “Even though none of you have managed to create the aura yet, you all seem to have  a grasp of how you might, which is enough for the time being. Take two days to recover, to heal in your own ways, and to practice creating a life energy aura on your own time. Return here the day after, whether you have managed to create the aura or not, and we will move on to the next phase of your training.”

Jo opened her mouth to speak, but Wilson interjected, smiling, “Yes, you may do your independent training here. All of you may, if that is what you wish.”

Jo returned his smile, and stood up slowly, taking care of her aching muscles.

“I have a different question,” Jen asked, finding her feet as well. “What should we do if we manage to create the aura before the two practice days are up?”

It was an innocent enough question, but there was a certain tinge of anticipation beneath her words. Jen loved to learn, and was always looking for new things to try. It was clear to everyone present that she was hoping that Wilson would tell her what their next training exercise would be so that she could start early.

Wilson gave her a knowing look, and replied, “In that case, you are to practice sustaining that aura. A healing aura will not drain you in the same way that a Sol aura would, but it will take far more concentration to keep going. If you manage to create one, then you should practice creating it again, and again, until it becomes effortless to do so. Then you should practice keeping it going for long periods of time while you perform other activities. Try to run through your regular forms with the aura going. For example.”

Jen nodded. It probably wasn’t quite what she had expected, but it was intriguing enough to satisfy her curiosity regardless.

The Dueling Hearts filed from the building one after another, and went their separate ways. As Tucker and Jen made their way to the nearest bus stop, Jo and Sara walked towards home, together. Where Jo was left feeling optimistic after everything that she had learned, Sara was just as quiet and as downtrodden as she had been that morning. It didn’t take Jo long to notice, but even once she had, she wasn’t sure what, if anything, she should say.

As the two of them approached the house, Jo finally decided to just say something, even if it was just whatever popped into her head.

“Hey,” she said, “we’re gonna get those guys. You know that, right? And you’re gonna get the handle of your auras. Both of them.”

Sara paused, and she looked over her shoulder at her sister, but she said nothing, and her expression was unreadable. She started walking again, and didn’t look back.

She’s feeling down, Jo thought, as she watched her sister go. She was defeated more completely than she’s ever been, and she can’t help but wonder if having an aura would have changed that. Wilson’s training is reminding her of that.

Jo followed her sister inside. This was exactly the kind of situation where Sara would want space, and so Jo decided to give that space to her. She knew that, unsure of herself or not, Sara would do everything in her power to improve, and she would meet the Sol Takers with everything that she had when they returned.

Two days passed quickly enough. The Dueling Hearts spent very little time together. Only Jo and Sara, and Jo and Tucker, saw each other at all. Sara spent all of her free time training wherever it was that she usually trained. Jo didn’t know, and not for the first time, she was curious to find out. Strangely enough, Jo saw more of her best friend than she did of her own sister. Tucker showed up out of nowhere the morning of the second day to show Jo that he had succeeded. He wanted to demonstrate. It took almost a full minute to pull it off, but soon he was surrounded in a swirling, sparkling, shell of golden light. He had to visibly strain, but he was able to keep the aura going for a few more minutes after that.

Jo was impressed, and after seeing Tucker create a healing aura, she rededicated herself to creating her own. Tucker tried to help, but he couldn’t quite put into words what had been different the time that he had finally managed to pull it off. They had been best friends for years, and Jo still didn’t speak Tucker as fluently as she wanted to.

It was that afternoon, once Tucker had left, that Jo finally got it. It lasted only a few seconds, but she had done it. She had created an aura from her own life energy. After the fact, she couldn’t really describe the sensation either. If she had tried to put it into words, she might have said that, where creating an aura out of Sol required that you mix Sol and life energy, and then grab ahold of that Sol energy and shape it with your will, creating an aura out of life energy was less about forcing the energy, and more about holding the Sol energy back, and allowing the life energy to flow outward and fill you up, overflow, and create the aura all on its own. Even that, however, wasn’t entirely right.

Still, the sensation was unique enough that Jo remembered it, and the experience was meaningful enough to her that she was eager to repeat it. Just as Wilson had said, because the aura was made from her own energy, her body didn’t reject it. For the first time in her life, Jo was able to experience what so many Sol fighters took for granted: the ability to use Sol training to heal.

She didn’t recover all that much, despite managing to create her aura again and keep it going for the better part of half an hour, but as someone who had always had to recover from fights the hard way, feeling her injuries disappear before her eyes was life-changing.

Jo woke up the next morning at the same time that she had three days ago, but this time she awoke feeling very little pain, and quite a bit of confidence. She dressed, and made her way out of her room, and just as she had three days ago, she bumped into her sister. Sara’s spirits didn’t seem nearly so high, but when she saw Jo, she seemed more at ease than she had since the fight. At ease enough, at least, to roll her eyes in response to her sister’s comparatively good mood.

“Morning,” Jo said, as she fell in step with Sara.

Sara rolled her eyes again.

“I haven’t seen you much lately,” Jo continued, treading as carefully as she felt that she could, “and I was wondering, how did your training go?”

Sara didn’t look at her, but after a moment’s pause, she said, “I got the aura to work. Yesterday. I still have a little trouble making it whenever I want, but I can do it.”

It was a Friday morning in Checker Township, Ohio, a suburb in the northeastern United States. Alongside a moderately-busy road, only a guard rail, and a thin bar of trampled grass, littered with faded, decaying paper wrappers, and dirty bottles separating its front lot from dusty asphalt, stood a building about the size of a corner mini mall, with big windows lining the front. They were textured, but still allowed plenty of light through.

Above the windows, with the tail end hanging above the single glass swinging door, was a wide light up sign that read “Wilson’s Dojo”, along with some phone numbers intended for interested parties. It was an unassuming building, its brick walls due for a spray down, and its once-white siding tinted sandy brown. It was an easy place for one to overlook, unaware of the amazing things that routinely went on inside.

Within the building, a young man stood across a broad blue mat from a smaller figure, while an elderly man in thick, horn-rimmed glasses watched, his arms crossed, his expression somewhere between amusement and true interest. The young man, whose frame was broad and full, with large and defined muscles, stood in a ready stance, his chest rising and falling quickly, sweat dotting his brow. His opponent was shorter, and of a slimmer build. You might not notice right away, because her hair was messy, and her clothing was unflattering and boyish, but his opponent was a girl about his age. She stood calmly with her hands hanging at her sides. She was barely paying her opponent any mind, despite the difference in size between them. After all, they had already clashed twice, and the girl wasn’t even winded.

“You bored?” The young man asked.

“Yeah, a little,” the girl replied, almost offhandedly. Which was a mistake, as it inspired her larger opponent to charge her. For the first time, she gave their sparring match her full attention, stepping back into a back stance that was precise, but also loose and relaxed, as if she was ready to change stances at a moment’s notice. Powerful muscles flexed beneath her skin, a testament to years of physical training. Her opponent swung a big, hammy fist at his smaller opponent’s head, his hand flying so fast that the eye could barely track it. The force of his blow was great enough that it actually stirred up the air along its trajectory. Yet the fit young woman, with barely any discernible effort, stepped back, leaned, and ducked slightly. Her opponent’s fist missed her head, and sailed above her shoulder.

Her counterattack was precise and practiced. Before her opponent could retract his arm, the smaller fighter wrapped her right arm around the large young man’s wrist, and thrust upward with her left palm, catching her opponent in the elbow. There was a loud pop, and the larger fighter staggered backward, gripping his right arm in his left hand and moaning. His opponent waited patiently as he checked that his arm still worked, and then, in a fit of anger, lashed out this time with his left fist. His strike was slower than the last, and sloppy. Avoiding it was again a simple matter. The girl did so without even needing to step back so far to be unable to reach her opponent’s torso. From inside her opponent’s guard, she gave her opponent’s celiac plexus a swift punch. The air flew from the larger fighter’s lungs, and he staggered back, toppling backward onto his butt.

“I don’t have time for this, Keith” the girl said, turning to leave, nodding to the elderly man as she did, but she stopped as she heard her opponent shuffle back to his feet.

“Screw you, Jo,” the broad-shouldered young man, Keith, exclaimed. “This place is shit. I came here to get stronger, but none of the stuff you’ve been having me do has made a difference. It doesn’t help that hardly anybody trains here.”

“You’d actually get results,” the girl, Jo, said harshly, “if you weren’t too stubborn to try anything that doesn’t make immediate sense to you. You seem to think that you can unlock the full potential of your Sol just by forcing it, but you can’t.”

She said it as if she’d made an indisputable point, so she was surprised when Keith chuckled. “You keep saying that, but I have proof that you’re wrong.” He held his right arm out straight, pointed at the floor, with his palm facing straight down. There was a clear look of strain on his face.

Suddenly, the air within the room became charged, literally sparking, and started moving seemingly for no reason. Static jumped off of Keith’s body, as he reached deep within himself and, with concentration, drew out a huge reservoir of energy. Static followed that energy as it flowed from the core of the young man’s body, down his right arm, and out passed his right palm. With a flash, a ball of reddish Sol energy, about the size of a soccer ball, took form there, arcs of electricity rolling off of it and striking the floor around Keith’s feet.

The elderly man became apprehensive, his stance becoming more guarded, but Jo barely reacted. She became suddenly more tense, her expression indicating greater investment in the situation, but she didn’t even turn back to face her opponent again.

“You see that,” Keith said, triumphantly. “All on my own, without help from any of your ‘learn about yourself to find your true power’ bullshit, I managed to learn how to make attacks from Sol energy! Before long, I’ll be able to create an aura, too. No thanks to you idiots.”

He shot his opponent an evil grin, and spat, “Hey, if you’re so fast, then dodge this why don’tcha.”

He straightened up, and kicked the ball of energy right at the back of his opponent’s head. It spun wildly, but it’s course stayed true. It flew with enough force to punch most of, if not all the way through a brick wall. Being hit by it would be devastating, but this time, his opponent didn’t dodge the attack. Instead, she spun so fast that Keith didn’t even see her body start to turn, and she reached out and caught the orb. It pushed her back, and she had to visibly strain, but in the end, the orb was stopped, held firm in the female fighter’s outstretched hand, which was itself wrapped in a burning aura of black and purple light. A few seconds later, the orb dissipated, and the light around Jo’s hand faded away.

“An aura like that one?” The elderly man asked Keith, his stance once again relaxed now that the danger had passed. He chuckled, and Keith fumed.

“Fuck you guys,” he spat, shooting them both dirty looks before storming out, followed by a pair if amused smirks. As the door swung shut behind him, Jo sighed heavily.

“Good riddance,” she said. “I mean, it was kinda nice having a sparring partner, but that guy was just awful. At everything.”

“You could have been a little nicer to him,” the elderly man replied.

“Maybe,” Jo replied, rubbing her right hand, which had been left raw by the ill-advised, yet dramatic, catch, “but come on, Wil, you know as well as I do that it wouldn’t have mattered. So I ran him off faster than I could have. Please don’t expect me to shed any tears.”

The elderly man, the Wilson of “Wilson’s Dojo”, shook his head and sighed, “You call him stubborn,  but you, Joanna Sieger, are, in your own way, one of the most stubborn fifteen year olds that I’ve ever met. The way you insist on dealing with people, I’m surprised that you don’t get into even more trouble than you do.”

Jo laughed, “That’s not stubbornness, that’s charm.”

The two laughed again, and then Jo said, “Well, it was a good thing that I ran him off when I did. I’ve got somewhere to be. See ya later, Wil.”

Without another word, she moved swiftly out the door, and started down the side of the street at a jog. She was completely unfazed by the events that she’d just been a part of, because that’s just how things were for Joanna Sieger. Sure, she found most people to be insincere and annoying, and just not worth her time, and so she tended to be a little brash, or just plain rude, but most people could tell that she wasn’t a bad person.

And yet trouble seemed to follow her around, like something dangerous was creeping up on her, just out of sight. She'd learned to take it, but she had always wondered if she had bad karma or something. She did have a pretty short fuse, but she had that under control. Could the universe be testing her? It was a silly question, but one that she’d asked herself before, and that she asked herself again after the events of the day. Just like every other time that she’d asked herself the question, she didn’t come upon an answer.

From Wilson’s, Jo made her way home. The walk wasn’t a long one. Her house, a nice two-story with a barn roof, was only a few blocks from the dojo. It was only ten minutes away, by car, from where Jo’s closest friend lived, and likewise only twenty minutes away from her extended family. The area mall and towne center, and all of the recreational facilities situated around it, was only twenty minutes away by bus. The house had a large back yard, and Jo’s room was more than large enough to sleep in, and to store her things, which is really all that she used it for anyway.

Jo approached the house with the same kind of calm that she’d shown in her fight. She was nearly to the door when she heard voices from around behind the building. With a little half smile, she changed direction, walking to the front corner of the house. She jumped gracefully over the chest-high chain link fence, and moved to stand just in view of the spacious back yard. In the middle of the flat, grassy, rectangular space, a fit, middle-aged woman with a back-length ponytail of red-brown hair, and a pretty face, stood before a group of three children, sitting upon a pair of red sparring mats.

The woman was Jo’s mother, Shannon, and this was one of her rare Sol lessons, and training sessions. Rare only because her tutelage was so sought after that if she didn’t limit the number of classes that she offered, she would never have any time for anything else. She and her students wore workout clothing, but they all looked completely fresh. The lesson had only just started, and as far as Jo could tell, she had a new student today, which made it easy for Jo to guess what was coming next.

“Since a new student has joined the class,” Shannon was saying, “I think we should go over the basics. Starting with the definition of Sol. Can anyone tell me what Sol is?”

Two small hands shot into the air. Shannon nodded to one of the eager children, a little blond girl, and the girl stood up and spoke.

“Sol,” she explained, “is a power that all people have inside them. Some start out with a lot more of it, but anyone can train their Sol to get bigger and stronger and do really amazing things with it.”

“That’s right,” Shannon agreed, “but that’s not all. Someone who knows how to control the energy of their Sol can mix it with the life energy in their body to make both much greater for a short time. More life energy makes a person quicker to heal when they’re hurt, and more Sol energy can be used to augment a person’s body, making them stronger and faster, or it can be turned outward to attack. Some people can even make enough Sol energy to wrap their body up in it and become stronger still.”

“Aura,” the little girl said. Shannon nodded, and smiled.

“People who have a lot of Sol, who have trained themselves to use it well, compete in big fighting events to test themselves, and to learn more about Sol and its powers. An entire new kind of sport has been created where Sol wielders from anywhere, with powers of any kind, can face off one-on-one in fair matches without any real risk of hurting themselves. Matches like this are called Heart to Hearts.”

She looked to the other child who had raised their hand, a young boy with dark skin and curly black hair, “Can you tell us about the history of Sol? About where it came from?”

The boy replied, “Sol appeared thirty years ago. But I don’t remember where it came from.”

“That’s alright,” Shannon told him. “Sol did appear thirty years ago, but that wasn’t the first time that people had Sol. Thousands of years ago, people had Sols as strong as the ones that people have today. The people of the time called it different things, like magic, and chi, and it’s the reason why history tells stories of humans who could do miraculous things. Then, suddenly, Sol disappeared from most people, and even the people who still had it didn’t have as much. For a long time, historians didn’t know about Sol, and so they thought that ancient stories of magic and miracles weren’t true. Now they know better.”

“And you found Sol,” the third student, a brown-haired boy with freckles, blurted. Shannon laughed, but she caught herself after only a moment.

“That’s almost right,” Shannon told him, blushing as she usually did when someone sparked a conversation with her about herself. “When Sol suddenly returned thirty years ago, I was one of the first people to learn about it, and learn how to make it stronger. I’ve never been very strong in terms of my body, so I used the principles and ideas of martial arts to make my Sol stronger, so that it could make my body strong, and I came up with a whole bunch of techniques that others can use to do the same thing, too. People with the right Types of Sol anyway.”

Upon hearing that, Jo, who had watched the entire exchange, lost interest. A smile of contentment was replaced by a slight frown. She felt like she’d been slapped in the face, but she shook off the sensation, and walked back around in front of the house, swung the front door open, and stepped inside. Fuming almost imperceptibly, she climbed the stairs and took a single shallow corner to her room. She changed out of her exercise clothes. She had somewhere to be, and even though her match with Keith hadn’t pushed her too much, it had worked up a sweat. She tossed her loose black tank and sweats aside, and stepped into a pair of dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and an old, faded black overshirt with tattering along the edges.

She turned to look at herself in the tall mirror on the back of her door. Her clothes were nothing special. The kind of thing that she wore every day. Her dark brown hair was even messier than usual, casting a shadow over her equally-dark brown eyes. She seemed so unassuming, so much so that one could hardly even tell for sure what gender she was, and that was the way that Jo preferred it. She would show off when it was appropriate, but in day to day situations, she preferred to be as nondescript as possible.

The right Type, Jo thought. Her frown hadn’t left her face, and it deepened at the remembered words. A familiar feeling crept into Jo’s chest, a dark feeling made of pain and anger, buried deep and unaddressed. A feeling that would continue to go unaddressed, as Jo buried it again, and forced a smile back onto her face. She had things to do. As casually as ever, she made her way back outside, and set out from home once again. Unaddressed feelings aside, she had a lot to be excited for, and she intended to be ready. To do that, though, she had to gather her friends. So she set out toward a nearby park to find her best friend, Tucker.