Even when darkness is deepest in the night the sun must eventually rise. And so it did for James and all the other humans of the Wilds.
James felt the heat of the sun against his skin and sighed. ' I wonder if I made a mistake?'
He quickly threw those thoughts and feelings to the back of his mind, sat up and looked beside him.
Uquinn was stretched out on the blanket, staring at the sky and Ethan was sitting down next to their campfire sharpening his axe with a stone. James doubted any of them got much sleep last night.
Near the lake Ziggy was sitting with a fishing rod between his thighs.
Ziggy, noticing that they were all awake, turned to them. " Good morning, young people. It is a new day. A good day for learning and an even better one for change, right James?"
The lake water dazzled under the sunshine reflecting all colors of the rainbow. This was the most beautiful thing James had seen in his life.
He nodded towards Ziggy and looked towards Uquinn. " Could you sleep last night?"
Uquinn who had her hands behind her head looked over to James and sat up as well. " No, I- If I want to help the people I love and protect my home. I have to make plans and think a lot about what I can do with my own strength."
James nodded. " I believe in you, let's try and pull ourselves up with our own hands."
Ziggy's expression was distant as he held the rod languidly in his hands; nobody could tell where his thoughts were or what he was thinking at that moment in time. He occasionally scratched his stomach through his fish net waiting for the youths to gather around him.
James and Uquinn both got up and walked towards Ethan.
" Did you sleep either?" they both asked at the same time.
Ethan stopped polishing his axe and looked at his own face in the reflection of the chipped blade. ' I have to save my father. Every second I'm asleep he might be awake and suffering and every second I'm away my mother is afraid and worried. '
But those words didn't leave his lips. " No, I have some things I need to do. I can't sleep."
James nodded, seeing the determination in his eyes. James reached out his hand and looked at Ethan.
Once again he saw the face of someone, who once held their hand out to him. James blinked and this vision was gone.
Ethan took his outstretched hand and stood up. " Let's see what we can learn in two weeks."
However their determination was not met with a climax as Ziggy simply didn't say anything to them. They all sat at the edge of the water in silence watching the sun slowly rise higher in the sky.
" James," Ziggy called out.
James whose mind was wondering what the first lesson would be turned to look at Ziggy who continued. "Do you know the stories about what lies at the end of a rainbow?"
James was taken aback by the random question. " Most stories say that at the end of a rainbow is a leprechaun's pot of gold."
Ziggy set down his line and turned to the three of them. " Yes, that is how the tale goes. I wonder if it's really true. Is there really gold at the end of this path? Is that the right answer to the question?"
James didn't understand Ziggy's point so he looked to Uquinn and Ethan who both had puzzled expressions. But they could hear the melancholy under his thoughtful tone.
" What question?" James asked.
Ziggy drew a Hexagram within the dirt and at each intersecting point of the hexagram he dug a small pit with the thumb of his finger.
He turned around and white karma appeared around his palm. He waved his hands across the water revealing three large bass and an uncountable number of smaller Grinning Koi.
James and Uquinn each gave each other a cursory glance before feeling the back of their necks heat up as they stared at the three familiar shadows beneath the surface.
Ethan seeing the fish for the first time reflexively took a step back away from the water's edge.
Ziggy pointed towards the creatures. " Midas at the end of his reign made a deal with karma. He made a contract with conditions that would eventually lead to his demise but in return humans could see the name and age of a cryptid."
" Deals with karma are not made easy and as you will quickly learn, as the essence of all things it is a reflection of all things...Chaotic and unkind". He paused purposefully letting them each ponder on his words.
" The age of a cryptid is expressed based on how you can most easily perceive it. For some it's a vague premonition.For some it physically manifests as a color. For others it is like a game. But just like everything with Karma. It's unreliable and is really only useful in determining the age and learning the names of Cryptids."
Ziggy turned back and pointed to the first of the three Ethan. " Tell me what you see."
Ethan looked at the three basses and they were all different colors. One's scales shimmered a vibrant red, the next was a rich yellow similar to barley and the last was a deep Indigo.
" They're called Bastion Bass. I don't have any visual representation of their age but I can sense that the red one is the youngest and the yellow one is the oldest"
"Next." Ziggy continued without paying much attention.
Uquinn quickly said what she saw. " I don't have any visual representation either, I just saw them and knew their names. My nose is telling me the yellow one would taste best but is hardest to catch and that the red one would be the easiest and would taste the worst."
James took a good look at each Bass. Above their heads was a scaly vial. Each had the words Bastion Bass above it and from left to right the red one had a red vial, the yellow one had a blue vial and the indigo bass had an yellow vial. '
James also thought back to his experience within the silent forest. He also saw a red vial above the black shuck that attacked him. There was also a indigo vial above the woman who saved him. He also remembered the cat at the lodge also had an Orange vial above its head.
James after thinking of how to say what he wanted took a deep breath. "They each have their names floating above a vial filled with a different colored fluid. The red one has red, the yellow one has blue and the indigo one has yellow."
Ziggy nodded. " The outward manifestation of color on a cryptid doesn't matter. It's what your perception tells you about them that does. See, everything is confusing which is why it's so hard to teach karma beyond the basics. You will have to experiment, learn and grow mostly on your own. Me telling you won't be useful. I cannot even teach you how to perceive the world around you, much less teach you how to be your own karma master."
There was a brief pause as Ziggy sighed and held his head in his palm.
Ziggy clapped his hands together snapping all three of them out of their thoughts. " Humans have been blessed with the ability to absorb karma from the world around them and if they are gifted enough and experience enough of life they are able to unlock their karma lakes and attain powers beyond normal human reach. Cryptids are born with access to their lakes, and like I said earlier karma is a manifestation of actions over a lifetime, so cryptids that live longer tend to have more potent karma. "
Ignoring the fish Ziggy released more colorless karma and reached into the water. The smaller Grinning Koi retreated backwards.
The larger Bastion Bass remained in their spot. However to their disappointment Ziggy scooped up a handful of water and poured it into the small channels he previously made in the dirt.
They each watched as the clear liquid slowly changed into six distinct colors of the rainbow.
Ziggy pointed towards the hexagram. " Karma is the manifestation of yada yada. Each person's life is unique and this uniqueness can be represented by the shade or nature of their karma. Each belonging to a shade of the rainbow. There are six shades of karma:
Red which is Alchemy. Alchemy is the transmutation of living and non living matter, altering its physical properties into ones that suit your desires. In the days before and during King Midas' reign they were called Alchemists.
Orange which is Manifestation. Manifestation is the creation of objects, phenomena and the immaterial without substance. Manifestors are able to create objects and constructs that would otherwise be unable to function in the wilds and power them using their karmic output.
Yellow which is Manipulation. Manipulation is the alteration or attenuation of an existing construct or state. Manipulators unlike Manifestors cannot create something from nothing and are best at altering existing constructs.
Green which is Transformation. Transformers are the most attuned to the wilds and are able to transform into creatures or things from myth, altering their human state to one far superior in their own unique aspect. They were some of the first karma masters in the Wilds.
Blue which is Empathy. Empathy is a relatively indescribable karmic nature. Empath karmic abilities are usually strange and have deep ties to the soul and emotions.
Indigo which is Post-Humus. Post-humus karma is strange and ritualistic. When a person dies their karma is slowly leeched out of their lakes and transformed into post-humus karma where it is eventually recycled into its original nature. However, sometimes it lingers and in its purest form it acts on the residual intentions and emotions of the dead. My karmic nature is Post-humus and it allows me to make peace with my dead…
Each person has a karmic nature that is unique to them and when they are using karma their nature often shows. However there are three outliers to the rules I've just set.
Post-humus karma was once associated with Divine karma which is one of the three outliers to what I just said.
Divine karma is karma associated with Pagan Gods and is the end of the karma cycle and acts as an absolute affinity. It is the purest Violet and because of the relationship between the two and the fact that they have not been seen for over 1000 years.
It has birthed the phrase 'God is Dead' which is widely accepted in the modern era of the wilds.
The second is formless karma, or white karma. "
Ziggy held out his hands and showed his indigo karma slowly shifting to white or see through color.
"Formless karma is karma without any specific nature attached and is not your own karma but cycling the ambient karma in the atmosphere back out before it can condense into karma of your nature. If you inspect the karma lakes of infants or babies, their lakes usually contain this karma until it eventually takes on a different shade.
It is as simple as it is described. Karma without form or nature. Its main use is the applications of basic karma which will be your first lesson today.
Lastly are individuals who do not fit in any nature and have shades completely unique to themselves usually because they have a strange overlapping affinity. The most obvious example are the three Kings,
King Arimata The First whose karmic shade was a yellowish-brown .
King Heme The Third whose karmic shade was silver-gray.
And King Midas whose karmic shade was a rich yellow which is most often compared to gold. "
Ziggy pointed to James. " You have a unique karmic aura. It looks to be a pale greyish white but it's also metallic like gold."
James hearing Ziggy say this let his karma flow from his pores. " Someone mentioned this to me."
James thought back to Ignazio and felt like he had been scammed. ' The old man didn't tell me shit. '
James clenched his fist. 'Did he think that I was going to fail? What was the point of telling me that story about King Midas? This would have been way more useful.'
James tried to rack his brain to understand Ignazio's intentions but couldn't find any logical answer right now and eventually sighed.
Ethan and Uquinn both looked at James with a renewed light and also a bit of caution.
James noticed this. " What's wrong?"
Ziggy decided to answer for them. " People who have unique natures don't die good deaths."
" Really?" James questioned.
Ziggy nodded seriously.
James laughed out loud. "That's great then! That means I can still live a good life. "
Ziggy's expression softened. " That's a good way to look at it."
Ziggy patted his knees. "That is the Nature of Karma."