godbent | 48th: The Officiousness of Haruhi Suzumiya

Entry tags:

48th: The Officiousness of Haruhi Suzumiya

[Action ]

[ Kyon went home. Kyon went home and the world didn't even notice. Which in some ways is not surprising - he went home just as they were going to Malnosso World. Oh sure the Brigade in Luceti probably noticed as the (increasingly infrequent or at least shorter due to the small size) meetings had him absent where he never really was before but for the most part? Who cared?

Well, Haruhi did.

And because of Haruhi caring around that, she threw herself hard into studying again. In Malnosso World she could work on making progress with her Extended Brigade but in the first week back she signed up for all sorts of missions to not get accepted to any. And so... she studied. Magic, technology, history, cryptoids, anything she could do apart from people because she didn't want to deal with people. Which is why apart from jogging in the morning, going to the Brigade HQ for meetings, and going home at night (maybe a snack between) much of Haruhi's time was in the library and she looks increasingly frumpy. As in she hasn't slept great and her hair has been better. You can encounter her doing this, or you might encounter her practicing some sigils, or meditating for spirits as the weeks drag on... but eventually:]

[ Voice ]

A lot of people have shown themselves to be sort of stupid here before now, but does anyone have some interesting facts or stories to tell me? I want to know more about whatever you want to tell me about. And if you don't, someone come to the HQ and help me test out some things. I've been working on some spells or ways to work with the Filial Spirits. So come on, Luceti.

[ She may or may not be a little distant sounding, but she is interested ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

[Pause.]

You really are interested in just about anything, aren't you? I often work around ashes, but I don't know what are the different types of them.

Well obviously "ash" is sort of a nebulous word because everything you burn will leave its own type of residue. But some of them might have magical properties on a world which isn't like mine.

True, I know that the ashes of my Cloth when it's destroyed have regenerative properties. Does that count?

And it's possible to burn something without leaving any type of residue though, you just need to use really strong and hot flames.

Is your "Cloth" magical in the first place or something?

Magical... That would be a very simple way to say it, I suppose.

It's an armor, created thousands of years ago, it's alive and has some consciousness but for most people it's just a piece of metal. Or bronze, rather, though it looks nothing like that.

Why would it be made of bronze? Wouldn't pretty much any other metal actually be more efficient? Or is bronze the only one that can live?

Actually, I don't know the exact material it's made with, I'm not a Clothsmith. But it belongs to the Bronze rank, there are Silver Cloths and Gold Cloths as well. I know that there were some copies made, known as Black Cloths which were a combination of normal metals so I think the Bronze, Silver and Gold ones have some special metal mixed with others and the grade of purity is what determines its rank.

Oh, so it's a figurative sort of bronze, which signifies a rank. [...] So you're a low rank.

That's right, below the Bronze rank there's the trainees and below those the mere soldiers. In theory, those who done the Gold Cloths are the Gold Saints, and they are the strongest ones, followed by the Silver Saints and then the Bronze Saints. According to that, the Bronze Saints are the weakest of them all, having only access and control over the same senses as any other human, except that they know how to use their Cosmo and fight with it. While the Gold Saints have control over seven senses.

[But that's just in theory.]

Maybe in the ancient past things fitted that theory, nowadays it's hardly valid.

So are you trying to boast you have two extra senses as well?

Things have been quite chaotic in our generation, got some internal wars, and we had to get up to strength with Gold Saints if we wanted to survive. And it's not two extra senses, it's three.

[And the way he says it sounds more as if it's an annoyance than something he's proud of.]

Well go on, details, details! It's strange and interesting to have extra senses, so you should tell me about it.

The sixth sense is one you may have heard about, at least normal humans in my world are aware of it, it's basically intuition, the difference between a normal human and a Saint is that Saints can actually control it. For normal people the sixth sense is something vague that only works on specific times if any, for a Saint it's as natural as eyesight and the others. The slowest Saint can move at the speed of sound, that is enough for the human eye to miss some movement, we need the sixth sense to be able to fully see the enemy that moves at such speed as well as to move like that ourselves. It's also the sense that helps us the most to understand enemy techniques so we know how to nullify them the next time they are used against us.

[He pauses for a second before he continues.]

The seventh sense is wider, it's what we know as Cosmo, which is the source of life and the cause of existence of all the matter in the universe. Any living being has it, but it requires extensive training to be able to be fully aware of it and even more work to be able to control it properly. Through it Saints can achieve things that are far beyond what normal humans can do, pulverize mountains, break apart clouds with the power of their punches... It also helps to supply for the other senses since one can gain awareness of their surroundings and see and hear through their Cosmo, so even if all our other senses are locked with Cosmo we can keep fighting and even regain them completely.

[He tops again as if asking if she has any questions.]

[ Secret ancient warriors with extra senses that move at the speed of sound? That is so cool. She ends up excitedly bouncing despite it all, but she does write notes too]

So that's two new senses...

[He hums in agreement. Funny, he didn't plan to end talking about this, but she did say she was interested in anything. It feels weird to talk about it, though, he has spent so many "normal" days in Luceti that it all starts to feel like an alien thing. Something that is related to him and at the same time isn't.]

There's another one, the eight sense though it doesn't work much as one compared to the other seven. As I said the seventh sense is the Cosmo that every living being has, the eight sense is also Cosmo but is the one every soul has. If the seventh sense is the physical Cosmo the eight sense is the spiritual one, it works in a similar way as the seventh sense but it's only really noticeable when you die.

In my world, the souls of those who die go to the Hades, the Underworld, a dimension linked to ours and ruled by the god of the same name. Those souls have only the minimal amount of consciousness, just enough to be able to feel the punishments they are inflicted for the rest of the eternity. No knowledge of who they are, no memories of their past, no consciousness of where they are, nor control over themselves. The eight sense breaks that, allows the soul to use its Cosmo even when separated from the physical body, with that you remain yourself even after death and not bounded to the will of Hades. Not very useful in appearance, but for us who had to travel there in order to fight it was very valuable.

... How is that not useful. Wouldn't that basically mean that you can freely become an independent ghost?

To begin with, no matter how much you train, the only way to reach the eight sense is to die. Only then it activates, so if you aren't capable of doing it... You become just another tortured soul. And even if you activate it, if you die you can't return to life. I'm not sure if you could return to the living world as a ghost, though.

There's a way to activate the eight sense without really dying, if one uses one of the passages that connect the living world to there. But if you can't activate it you will die either way, if do activate it, though, you will be free to roam that place and return to the living world in your living body. It's useful, but only under specific circumstances and it's a risky bet.

But what's the specific way?

The specific way to activate it? Dying, simply that. The specific way to actually have it useful? If you have to do something in the Underworld, like fighting Hades' army or finding something or someone's soul... Have you ever heard of Orpheo's myth?

Isn't that the one where he was going to bust out his girlfriend and then freaked out when it turned out she was a zombie?

... What kind of myth have you heard?

No, the myth I'm talking about is one where Orpheus, a notable musician and poet, loses his wife. The day of their wedding a satyr set sight on her and chased her, in her attempt to run away from him she fell into a viper's nest and got a fatal bite. Orpheus, went to the realm of dead in order to retrieve her, managing to soften Hades' heart with his music and words, the god told him that he could take his wife's soul with him and thus she would return to life, however he couldn't look at her until they reached the outside. Orpheus took his wife's soul with him, but he was so anxious that when he saw the exit he turned to look at her and her soul vanished forever.

The truth of the myth, though, is that Orpheus was a Saint and his travel to the realm of the death, as well as his wife's soul being able to follow him and remain herself, was thanks to both of them awakening their eight sense.

Isn't that basically what I just said anyway?

[ DETAILS ]

But that is interesting. You said no one else was able to return though, so how did they return?

They didn't. Hades liked Orpheus music too much and decided to keep it for himself, so he ordered one of his subjects to make Orpheus think that they had reached the outside. Since she had awakened the eight sense her soul didn't vanish but was still locked in the Underworld because of Hades' power, so Orpheus stayed there with her. For centuries, until we went to the Underworld and he joined us in the fight, but he was killed, and when Hades was killed, and the Underworld was destroyed, Orpheus' wife's soul probably suffered the same fate.

[So he didn't lie, no one until his generation was able to return from their travel to the Underworld.]

.... You destroyed the Underworld? Where do souls go now?

That's a good question and one I've asked myself, but so far, no idea. Maybe another god is taking care of it, like Buddha, maybe now souls just reincarnate eternally. Whatever it is I'm sure it's better than expending eternity being tortured for stepping on an ant once.

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]