On the edge of the rainforest Saiyu, a student of the nullification techniques followed her sensei. The thick copse of trees concealed any path they may be following.

  "Sensei, surely we're getting close now, right? We've been walking these woods for near three days at this point," Imaya said, wiping sweat from her brow. Though it was still early morning, the humid environment of the rainforest already had her bangs sticking in clumps to her forehead. How was it this warm and muggy mid-winter? Perhaps Etunda had a lesser hold on this realm compared to her home up north? Besides this annoying discrepancy, their trek through the supernatural rainforest had so far been entirely uneventful. Quiet. Peaceful, certainly, but they had peace enough back in Halador, and it wasn't gross there.

  "We seek not a place, Imaya, but a lesson," said Severance, both his robes and smokey hair flowing behind him in the nonexistent breeze that kept his feet just barely off the ground. "Tell me, what have you noticed on our journey so far? Why might we be here?"

  Always a lesson. "Well, there's not been much. These trees and flowers are beautiful in their own way, a little dull for my tastes though. But where are the animals, the wildlife? We've not encountered a single living being so far. I haven't even heard any in the distance, and I've been diligent with my training in that regard." More than diligent in fact; Imaya put great effort into her sensitivity training. She could hear a stone drop on leaves from 50 strides. She tightened her senses, but still, nothing.

  "It is unusual for such a vibrant forest to lay silent. What do you know about the Saiyu?" Imaya's sensei replied. If this is to be a lesson, then his response contained a hint, surely.

  "I've not visited before, being weeks of travel from Lokal. But I know it's ancient, raised before our earliest records. It's the original land of the bherin, right?"

  "Good. What else?"

  "And at the center is Naian, a massive life-giving tree of...," she trailed off, palming her face with both hands.

  "Of magic. Precisely. Every creature born from the power of the Evertree is fueled by an aspect of life magic, from the simple fauna to the bherin and khonmai-hal themselves. So again, I ask: What do you notice?"

  Kon-what? A distraction, she guessed. Sensei enjoyed giving out too much information to throw her off track. She knew he had hit on something with the magic, but she couldn't fit it together. What was she missing? "Nothing, sensei. A complete absence of the supernatural." Realization dawned on her, and Imaya sank to her knees to bow before her sensei's strength. "You are the silence. I've never doubted your skills, sensei, but you're keeping all this at bay?! How?" In her haste to bow she bent too far, her head touching the muddy ground they walked on. Embarrassing, but at least her face cooled down a bit.

  A slight grin flashed across Severance's face as she wiped herself off. "I thought I was the one asking questions. Rise, pupil," he replied lightly, continuing on his path and not turning to see if she followed. "You have done well in your training of the inner self. Your body is hardened, your senses are sharp. Your next lesson is different. Today, you will learn to expand your influence, the true power of a Null. I will release my aura now. Prepare yourself."

  "What do you mean, prepare my-" With an unnerving whoomph, like a boulder plunging into water but deeper, the instant saturation of the forest's sounds and colors were a cacophony. Squawks of birds in the trees above pierced the air, the trickling current of a nearby stream seemed a roar, and what were previously dull flowers now violently popped into screaming yellows and overwhelming blues. She squinted, light assaulting her eyes even filtered through the canopy. The change was surreal. To hold all of this at bay; that is the strength of her sensei. The strength she could one day have. Imaya took a few deep breaths, willing her senses to adjust. "Mends' wrath! You suppressed all of this? Even the light?"

  "Language. And yes, although in truth that is more a byproduct of the magical energy around us rushing to fill the void I maintained. The colors at least should stabilize shortly. To grasp this principle for yourself, we will first start with a small, localized field projection." As Severance explained, an almost nauseatingly pink butterfly flew between them and rested against her sensei's outstretched finger.

  Imaya got a closer look at the insect as her vision began to return to normal. Up close, she realized this creature was unusual. Instead of having fixed proportions, its wings and body undulated, pulsing lightly with a regular rhythm. The colors of its form bled out into the air around it. It was beautiful. Comforting, somehow.

  "While all creatures here hold essence of Naian within them, some, such as this spirit, are actually made entirely of magic. Outside of this forest, naturally-occuring beings of purely magical makeup are a rarity on our world. This is why I brought you here, so please observe," said the sensei. With a flicker of his aura, the butterfly was eviscerated. Shreds of pink exploded outward from his palm, carried in his non-existent wind.

  Imaya's heart sank as the last strands of light faded into nothing.

  "I see the look on your face, Imaya."

  "Forgiveness sensei, but I'm not hiding it. You brought me here to kill butterflies?"

  "I brought you here so you may learn to nullify the supernatural. Such frail creatures are a suitable first example of the technique. Worry not; these are but imitations of life. They do not feel any real pain," her sensei explains, clearly attempting to reassure his questioning pupil. "There are similar spirits nearby. Collect one, and focus your mind on extending the void within you. Start small. With time and practice, magic will never again touch you unless you allow it."

  At this, Severance began to glide away, deeper into the forest.

  "Sensei? Wait, where are you going?"

  The aged man stopped for a moment before turning to her. "There are eyes of the forest who have noticed the disturbance I caused. They approach from the south. I will handle them; you should focus on catching that butterfly," he said, pointing toward a set of orange mottled wings flapping behind her. By the time she had coaxed the bug onto her hand, Severance was nowhere to be seen.

  Imaya crushed the spirit in frustration after an hour of failure. "Gah, nice going Maya. Now you've made no progress and stained your hands," she muttered to herself. Normally such outbursts were rare from her, but with many days of wandering through the Saiyu and the quick disappearance of her sensei, she was finding it difficult to stay centered. Such that it was, it took her well beyond midday to find another spirit, this one a brilliant white with spots of bright crimson that seemed to grow and shrink with the creature's pulsing. It rested on a nearby fern.

  This was her chance. Imaya reached within herself, her senses brushing up against a rhythm that felt solidly hers. She deepened her breaths, syncing her rhythm with the butterfly's. She waited, eyes closed, clearing her mind of the journey's frustrations. Minutes passed, but her focus was absolute. In a snap, the void within her strikes. It siphons the very essence of the poor creature, which fades into nothing. Imaya can't help but feel a twinge of sympathy, but she steels herself. "I know why I'm here. The spirit may have been beautiful, but its life did not go to waste. Now to find sensei."

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Etunda's light was already dimming overhead when Imaya finally spotted signs of her master's passing. He's in a clearing up ahead, and it's obvious he is not alone. Before he's fully within her sight, Imaya picks out what must be Sawing, one of the bherin tongues. She'd never heard it before, but from her studies she knows the language is distinct: its long drones and scraping sounds make it the only non-spoken language she'd ever heard of, though admittedly she'd had little exposure to the greater world before she met her sensei. Hells, before this journey she hadn't even left Hosgan province. Imaya pressed forward, her pace quickening. It wasn't often she got a chance to see her master in battle.

  Even with the setting sun, as she approached the clearing there was light enough to reflect the forms of three opalescent kin standing across from master Severance in a loose semi-circle. His back was to her edge of the clearing. No fighting yet. Each of the people before him were wide, wider than any man, and stout; no more than 5 feet tall. Natural horns adorned their heads and she could faintly spot the ridges of tough exoskeletons. Definitely bherin, then. Two held wooden spears, while the third in the center–the leader?–had a sheathed blade resting on its waist.

  Before she could fully make her way out of the trees for a better view, Imaya was stopped in place and held firmly by an invisible force; her sensei's will, assuredly. She understood his meaning and crouched among the foliage.

  "Ah Imaya, I take it you found success?” His voice danced in her mind.

  This was not a new trick to her, though she had thought the inner control she had developed recently would prevent his trespasses. She wasn't too upset for her assumption to be wrong given the circumstances. She ignored his question, but his thoughts continued through the void.

  "Worry not. These are representatives of the lesser Naian root system southeast of here. They are inquiring about the disturbance I caused earlier."

  Imaya watched as her sensei pulled out a hefty wooden device from the folds of his robes. Perhaps an instrument? It had dozens of slim sliding pieces overtop a ridged lip.

  Severance somehow noticed her confusion. "I see you're not familiar with a stridebox, pupil. It's a device that mimics the sounds of Sawing, though I'm told it is a rough approximation...," he says within, without so much as glancing in her direction. Something seems off as he says this to her.

  She tries to rise to her feet, to join him, but his grasp is absolute. Why is he nervous?

  "Under the shade of the Evertree, it’s a sign of disrespect for the Bherin to deal in spoken tongues. Always prepare for negotiation, Imaya." A scraping, chittering sound escaped the stridebox as Severance rubbed the sliding keys across the device. The response from the three bherin was grating and indecipherable. Her master tried again with the device, this time sounding more insistent, more harsh, at least.

  The discussion went on for more than a few minutes. Severance's robes were visibly damp with sweat despite his personal draft of uplifting air. The leading beetle responded in regular intervals, but he seemed expectant; he was waiting for something.

  As Imaya was trying to piece together what they might be talking about, she spotted a slight rustling in the canopy across the way. A threat? No, likely just wildlife. There weren't any branches on the nearby trees lower than 30 feet that she could spot; nothing without claws could climb that high.

  Stop getting distracted. Looking back down to the clearing, her sensei seemed visibly relieved; they came to an agreement.

  He was gracefully stowing the box back into his robes as he took out a rolled parchment, sealed with green wax. The seal would be embossed with a singular vertical line splitting a mountain in twain. The Silence of Chinoku. The crest of One Hara, the Elfslayer. Imaya had found a letter just like it a few months ago.

  The lithest of the Bherin approached, took and opened the parchment, reading its contents. The leader chittered with its mandibles, turned, and led its kin back into the forest. They followed without a sound.

  After some minutes passed, Imaya felt the pressure surrounding her relax. Her sensei remained still, facing the direction their recent company retreated.

  Finally, she approached him. "What the Hells was that about? What'd you tell them? Were you trying to recruit them too?"

  "No, no none of them would accept an offer from us. It was a contract, or a copy of one anyhow. A reminder of services rendered to the Saiyu bherin by our order. In exchange for ridding the forest of a True Elf some decades ago, we are permitted such occasional travels into the Saiyu for educational purposes. Authority is respected differently between the various roots though, so I wasn't sure if this group would hold to their word."

  "If they drew steel they'd be sorry they did. I've only seen you fight a few times, sensei, but it's never been close. They didn't look too tough anyway. Even without my help you would have been able to handle them I reckon."

  Severance sighed. "How many of them did you sense?"

  "Forgiveness, sensei, but what do you mean? There were only three of them in the clearing with you. I did catch a glimpse of something up in the branches there at one point,” She pointed in the direction she saw the disturbance, “but I figured it was a bird or something." She

  Her sensei furrowed his brow and looked at her pointedly. "I counted 14 more in the trees. That was why I had you wait, to make sure they all were truly gone."

  Imaya paled. "So I did see one! But fourteen? I didn't think those buggers could be stealthy, seeing as how they're so.. wide." She grinned despite herself.

  "You have much to learn. The few that showed themselves before me were young, fresh out of pupation; 50 vows, at the oldest. Foolish. Eager to prove themselves. The elders were watching from above. If you were stronger they would have noticed you, but my null field proved distracting enough for them."

  'If she were stronger'. The words echoed in her mind, though that was no trick of her sensei's this time. He said it so casually. She felt embarrassed. Defeated. But that was why she was here, to get stronger. To prove herself to those who left her behind. She would do better. "I appreciate your candor, sensei. Can you tell me how I managed to miss them?"

  "Of course," Severance replied. "I believe that we encountered members of the Nightleaf Branch. Naian blesses each bherin within Its realm; it is the nature of their relationship. Even among the Branches, though, Nightleaves are nearly unparalleled. They serve the greater influence of the Saiyu and thus are supreme in its domain. If one were to step outside of this forest, they would be diminished in accordance with their gift, however. In the woods around Lokal you would have no trouble noticing any of them. You did well to see even one. I am impressed."

  The unexpected praise made Imaya blush. "Thank you, sensei. I shall aim to train my senses even further as we continue."

  Days of travel passed with little interruption beyond stops for rest and instruction.

  "Did you know she is one of them?"

  "Forgiveness, sensei?"

  "Hara. She's a bherin. She hides that fact from outsiders, but the kin of Naian all know. She's unlike them now, more and more each day. Her status, it's.. unique amongst the saints. Given their power, any of them could appear however they like, but out of all of them, she's the only one who chooses to change. The only one..." Severance stops himself for a moment. He shakes his head. Solemnly, he continues: "She's the only one who had to do it alone. The only one who was abandoned by her people when she ascended."

  Tears were flowing down his face.

  They were flowing down Imaya's too.

  Severance cleared his throat and wiped his eyes clear. Imaya could see a slight smile forming on his face. "That is enough gossip for now. Reflect on these lessons as we travel our last day to temple."

  "Temple? Wait, we’re finally going to Chinoku?! I’m finally going to Chinoku?!"

  "You always have been, Maya. Congratulations. Now, begin your reflections." His smile was full, now.

  She could hardly believe it. This whole time they were working their way to the home of their order? Severance has always loved a good distraction.

  "Yes, sensei."