Meditation

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As he assumed a lotus position in the depths of the ‘Enochiel section’ of his demi-plane, Ahsch once again questioned the wisdom of having his younger sister guide him through meditation. The fact that she had successfully performed a divination using meditation didn’t _quite _outweigh the fact that she was an excitable, somewhat childish girl.

“Okay, so, I’ve never actually guided anyone on how to meditate so I’m not sure how good my help is going to be because I was told that everyone might have different methods to achieve deep meditation, and also the deeper stuff is hard to do when you’re new because it takes at least a few weeks of practice - if not months - to get to that level, so I don’t know if we’ll…”

“Sti’el!” Ahsch finally interjected. “Just try your best - it’ll be fine.” He gave his sister a kind - if slightly strained - smile.

Flushing a little, the lithe rabbit-girl smiled back. “Right, sorry! Okay, how did it… right. Okay, close your eyes and start to breathe deeply. As you do, relax your body consciously: pay attention to your arms and legs and everything in between and relax your muscles. Once you’re relaxed, focus on your breathing; in… and out… in… and out. If your mind ever wanders, just remind yourself to refocus on your breathing. In… and out… in… and out…”

Ignoring that Sti’el had rushed ahead in her explanations, Ahsch followed her instructions. He’d heard a little bit about meditation before and nothing that his sister was saying seemed different or new, which was unfortunate, but workable. He went through his body, focusing on each muscle group and relaxing them, quickly becoming surprised by how tense he was, even as he otherwise felt relaxed just sitting. After two full passes to make sure he was fully relaxed, he turned his attention to his breathing, trying to simply be aware of the passage of air through his nose and down his airway, filling his lungs and diaphragm.

Before he knew it, he was drifting. An odd awareness at the back of his passive mind suggested that it shouldn’t have been quite so easy, but a familiar yet novel sensation from deep within him pushed away all other thoughts. It was a feeling of… growth? Of being larger than expected? Of emptiness? Of… simple existence? No description seemed to do the sensation justice, but he knew why it was familiar: it was in the same ‘place’ as the pain had been when Phashak had meddled with his soul. Only now it was not a painful sensation, only something he was aware of.

There was a thrum from inside him. An energy he was familiar with - his divinity stirred, perhaps reacting to his base impulse to develop his domains, his desire to achieve some progress that he had yet to figure out. The thrum pulsed, in rhythm with his breath, growing faintly stronger as he inhaled, and diminishing slightly with each exhale. And with each full cycle, the pulses grew smaller, the difference between fully inhaled and fulled exhaled shrinking and shrinking until the thrum was a constant, an even buzz of energy as he breathed. Instead, with each inhale his divinity consolidated, to stream into the vacancy in his soul with each exhale, blown in gently with his breath.

Around half ‘full,’ knowledge filled his mind like water smoothly filling a cup as a new Innate Magic was drawn from his domain of bodies: the ability to infuse specific changes into substances, to allow one who consumed that substance to change according to the intent of the enchantment. There were limitations, but nothing debilitating.

Once his soul was finally ‘full,’ more knowledge flowed into him. An Innate Spell to enhance the growth and development of a mind - for the mind was housed within the body, after all, and in many ways relied on that body to function. A realization that caused Ahsch to understand that his reincarnative experiences did not occur in the ways he had originally thought, as he’d had no mind as a soul, and as such, his perception of the events was wildly different than what truly happened. However, that second spell was, in many ways, far more limited than the first.

Ahsch suddenly felt _something _collapse, and woke as his head hit the floor behind him with a grunt.

“Big brother!” Sti’el exclaimed, scrambling over to him. “Are you okay? You looked like you were in deep meditation, which is surprising because you haven’t meditated before, but you just suddenly fell over!”

“I…” Ahsch wiggled his fingers and toes, then held his hand in front of his face. “I think the soul-fuckery that Phashak did helped. At least this first time.” He knew that Sti’el was right - there was no way that he should have achieved such a deep state of meditation first try. And the fact that he had witnessed his own soul filling with divinity and had gained _exactly _what he wanted from it was too perfect to be a coincidence.

Reviewing his understanding of his three new Innate Spells, Ahsch almost laughed. Imbue Change, the first one, was exactly what Krutune had requested, but it was also far more: the limitations were somewhat hazy, but while it couldn’t grant someone inhuman (or in-monster) strength, it would allow them to develop it to the apex of their capabilities. The same went for their flexibility, their durability, and so on. However, its other capabilities were far more suited to the services of a certain shop. Because while the magic couldn’t change someone’s species, or alter their body to the **** - make a short person six feet tall, for example - it _could _reshape their body in more fundamental ways.

The second spell, Gray Matter Growth, seemed tailor-made to allow Ahsch to multi-task across two or more bodies. The growth was limited based on the brain, the _body _the mind inhabited, but even with that limitation, there were numerous changes that could be made. However, the greater the change, the slower it would be. A constant Mana drain was also a limiting factor, as the change had to be updated continually as the brain altered. Still, it could increase reaction times, sharpen focus, allow for true multitasking, and potentially - with access to a second brain - grant someone the ability to run fully parallel thought processes.

But then Sti’el was getting in his face, and he refocused on his sister, so he gave her a reassuring smile