Chakra and Magic
“I just don’t see the point of this,” Kuriko
Kazetsubaki said, reading a book on properties of different types of
magic. “I
mean, understanding the difference between spirit magic and hand magic
and all
is fine, but these details are infinitesimal! Why on earth would I need
to know
this kind of minute detail for anything?” Finished the assigned
chapter, she
tossed the book onto the table next to her and reclined on the couch.
Graduating at the top of her class from the
Also well-known, and not just within the magic community, was my particular weakness for women, hence why Kuriko had been the one sent to me. I suppose she was trying to pump me for all the information she could get, as if I would keep information hidden from her. I vowed wearily not to succumb to the temptations every time I had done so; not just with Kuriko, but with every female encounter in which I’d let my weakness manifest itself. The determination to resist melted every time; my brain had a tendency to misfire in certain situations, and by the time I had gathered my wits again it was already too late.
“The point,
Kuriko,” I said, peering at her lounging on the couch, “is that there
are far
more users of magic than you’d see even in a large place like
Picking up the book, I flipped a few pages and opened to a particular page, sliding it back across the table to Kuriko. “As you can see here, our source of power is the force we refer to as magic. What about monks, who channel chi or ki? What can magic do against that? What can it not? Here; what if your opponent is a ninja? They channel chakra, do you know the properties of that? What it can do?”
“Ninjas? You just made that up,” Kuriko said with a lazy grin. She obviously wasn’t buying it. “Besides, do you know about this Chakra stuff?” It was unfortunate that she asked that question, because I didn’t… “Ninjas, though. Seriously. What is a ninja going to do to a powerful mage like me? So long as I don’t get too close, they can’t run me through with a sword or karate chop me or use any of that ninjutsu rubbish.” Kuriko dismissed ninjas with a wave of her hand. That prompted me to decide it was time for an object lesson to instruct my student.
“A ninja is likely to be in better physical condition than you, faster and stronger than you with greater endurance for pain and fatigue, skilled in a wide variety of ninja arts, as well as illusionary techniques and the capability for physical combat; ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. As I said, a ninja channels Chakra to maintain and build combat power. A ninja is trained in the use of shuriken, kunai, and other weapons, depending on the situation. These weapons are guided by the force of Chakra, and are far more accurate than anything thrown by you or I.” It was about this point that Kuriko went into a half-sitting position, realizing both through the nature of my lesson and the serious expression on my face that this might actually be something to take heed of. “They can come at you in the blink of an eye and leave you dead before you even knew they were there.”
“I… see. You’re telling me that these ninjas actually do exist?” She wasn’t quite buying it all the way, but the skepticism of before was definitely gone. “If they’re really as powerful as you say, then what on earth are we supposed to do to stop them?”
“Physical skills aside, a ninja’s battle arts are powered through Chakra and hand signs, for the most part. Not all require hand signs, but all do require Chakra,” I said, in a slightly less severe tone and manner. “They can cycle the hand signs before you can speak two words of an incantation, so you have to be ready and quick-witted to counter them. A jutsu can do a wide variety of different things, so you must be prepared for anything. A jutsu can summon, create elemental energy, provide defense or enhance attack, create illusions, alter the surrounding terrain, the list goes on and on.” I nodded, acknowledging her question. “Given all of that, it sounds like we who use magic are hopelessly outclassed, is that correct?”
“It seems so,” Kuriko replied. “If we’re up against an opponent with superior physical capabilities and magical abilities that can counter or at least stymie our own, what are we supposed to do about it? I do suppose however,” she went on with a knowing smile, “that you are going to tell me about some minute detail of this Chakra that we can use in order to turn the tides in our favor, is that correct?” She was now lounging on her elbows, still reclined on the couch, but partially sitting up and paying me more attention. Her red eyes were fixed on me now, but looking thoughtful, instead of the predatory expression they adopted when she was chasing me from hell to breakfast.
“Actually, that is not the case.” I shut the textbook and shook my head. “The problem of effectively dealing with an opponent who uses Chakra is an unsolved one. This is what you are looking for, correct? I’m going to bring you in on research being conducted on a contemporary problem that has yet to be solved. This is the most current and up-to-date information you’ll get. That being said, it will require a lot of work and we’re not certain of what the end result will be. Are you still interested?” I rose, tucking the book under my arm and looking down at her.
“This is what I came for.” Businesslike, Kuriko also stood up and smoothed out her long skirt before looking me directly in the eyes. “I’ll be glad to join you in the research effort. I do suppose however that I must admit it was necessary to suffer through those painfully boring lessons in order to build the foundation I would need in order to assist you in this endeavor.” Her voice lilted at and after the words ‘painfully boring’, leaving me unsure of whether or not she was being sarcastic or, as she frequently did, just using her ability to make anything she said teasing just by using the tone of her voice. I leaned towards the second option when she hooked onto my arm and said, “Lead the way, Professor.”
“I’m not a professor,” was my weak retort as I rolled my eyes and sighed, leading her up the spiral staircase in the left tower, heading for the fourth floor and the library. I knew the floozy act was precisely that, an act, designed to make me (or anyone) lower their guard and not take the voluptuous young woman seriously. It was a mistake that would prove painful, probably fatal in the right circumstances. “Here. Just a moment.” I succeeded in leaving her at the front desk, with the register of books checked in and out, while I returned the textbook I carried under my arm to the shelf. Returning, I found her waiting there with surprising patience as I filled out the entry marking the book’s return as complete. Kuriko was a fiery young woman, patience not exactly one of her strong suits.
“Why are we in the library? Please tell me we’re not doing more boring research,” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Boring research is part of the process,” I said archly, beckoning her to follow me to a door marked with magic seals and normally not visible. “However, in this case, you are fortunate because most of the research for this phase is already complete, and we need empirical data now. You see,” I continued, opening the door and holding it open for her as she went inside, closing it behind us, “I believe I have struck upon the property of Chakra that we will need to exploit in order to triumph in a conflict. Exploiting that property is the difficult part.” The room we were in was not lit by electrical lamps of any kind; magical light emanated from the four upper corners of the room, which was about twenty feet high with a duct set in the stone ceiling.
“This is… I never knew you had such advanced magical research facilities here,” Kuriko said, leaving me with a slight feeling of satisfaction. It wasn’t often that I managed to surprise her. “They’re almost as good, if not equal to the Kazetsubaki Corporation’s magical research facilities. I never even noticed the presence of all this equipment! Hiding magical residues of this strength is no mean feat…” She turned and gave me a glare that was very close to accusatory. “Why didn’t you tell me about this place sooner? I was very close to considering you a puffed-up mage pretending at grandeur.”
“It’s nice to know your opinion of me is so high,” I said dryly, and Kuriko clapped her hands over her mouth and blushed. I swept an arm out at the room; arcane-looking items lined the two tables against the far wall, with work desks along the two walls that adjoined it. In the center of the room, which was about fifty feet square, were magic runes inscribed into a circle of black, almost reflective rock approximately fifteen feet in diameter. The runes were inscribed on the perimeter, with a series of intricate designs joining them all in a pattern of lines that eventually led to the center, which was a solid circle large enough for a person to stand on. The inscriptions all glowed with a faint blue hue. At four points around the circle, forming the corners of a square that encompassed the circle itself, were three-foot-high pillars of a silver material, with runes and lines etched up and down their length as well. It was, obviously, the design for a magic circle, this one more intricate and powerful than most.
“Look at this…” Kuriko ran her hand against one of the silver towers gently. “Refined Orihalcon metal? This costs a small fortune for four of them. And the circle is laid into Condrite alloy? Incredible… who made these inscriptions? They’re exceedingly precise and intricate…” She was on her hands and knees now, running her finger along the inscribed runes on the floor and muttering to herself.
“I made the inscriptions,” I said. For all its grand majesty, the circle was large and intricate because it had to be, and was not always the focus of every experimental project or research. “Leave it be for now. What we need, after I explain things to you, is a source of Chakra. I believe I can make a synthetic Chakra-like force to experiment on, but the nature of the research requires that we perform live tests.”
“So we’re going to need to find someone and possibly run an experiment on them without them knowing or against their will?” Kuriko said, a haughty grin mixed with traces of an evil smirk on her face. The girl’s morality was sometimes in question, but then again, so was mine, more often than not. “That’s fine. So, you were going to tell me about the results of your book research?”
“Chakra,” I began, “is a force that is generated within the body. Ninjas are trained to manipulate this force for different uses, but it is, at base, a type of life energy. There are many such kinds of life energy, as we know, controlling different functions of the body, and we see different disciplines arising from the different ways to tap and manipulate these life energies. We who use magic, on the other hand, tap an external force and channel it through our bodies, providing an advantage and a disadvantage.” I coughed slightly and continued. “The source of magic provides us with an inexhaustible power. That is our advantage over the channelers of life energy. The disadvantage comes from the strain of channeling the force of magic; the body can only withstand so much of it at a given time. Channel too much or too frequently, and one can die or burn out; this is something you are taught very early on.” Kuriko nodded, interested in my discourse, or so it seemed.
“Chakra, since it is a life energy, is something that the body is accustomed to channeling, and the strain on the physical structure is minimal. However, to perform Chakra-based feats, it must be expended. As with any expenditure of life energy, the use of Chakra weakens the user’s body, in particular their physical capabilities. Chakra is also, comparatively, used up rather quickly and regenerates slowly. Thus, in combat between ninja who are often too skilled to land a killing blow on one another, the winner is the ninja who can force his or her opponent to expend the limit of their Chakra and become too weak to fight. This is the angle we must exploit.”
“I understand,” Kuriko said. “In other words, we are looking for a way to either drain Chakra directly, or at least hasten its depletion in the target, so that they reach their limit more quickly and become unable to use any skills or techniques?” Kuriko began to pace, kicking at her long skirt with every step. “But as you said, these ninja are trained in how to use their abilities… surely, they’ll recognize and attempt to resist or defeat any attempt to deplete their fighting power.” She stopped and looked pensive. “Draining any kind of life energy falls into the realm of necromancy. Isn’t that correct?”
“It is,” I said. “Unfortunately, I don’t know any necromancers who would be willing to assist in this endeavor.” Most of those who put their energies toward studying the nature of life and death energies focused on constructs made using the energy of death. In other words, undead creatures and chimeras and other sorts of unpleasant creatures. And Kuriko had a point; to drain the Chakra out of someone completely would kill them. Any forays made in that direction would have to be extremely cautious, yet the principles of necromancy would play strongly in any solution that was discovered.
From the tables in the back of the room I chose a jar filled with what looked to be a shimmering blue energy. “Synthetic Chakra, or as near to it as I can duplicate by reading about it in texts. It is not the same as the real thing, of course, but it will lead us close enough to a solution that we can take the next step.” I nodded at Kuriko and put the jar in the middle of the magic circle. This way, it would be possible to tap the circle’s magic energy instead of channeling it directly through the body. Unscrewing the jar’s top, I stepped out of the circle, and said, “Let’s begin.”
Some time later, Kuriko wore a triumphant but slightly weary expression. “That’s it,” she said, excitedly. “That’s how it works. It would have to be.” I could do nothing but nod. Over the course of the past several hours, we had hemmed and hawed and tried many different techniques to draw the Chakra out of the jar. The jar and the Chakra were mildly attracted using a sort of magical magnetism, a condition I set because I realized no ninja would easily give up his or her Chakra. It would have to be drawn out powerfully or not at all. “You could do the same thing with a touch-range spell,” she continued, “but that would require getting too close. This isn’t likely to be fatal, either.”
It utilized the laws of balance, which were a useful thing because as Kuriko said, they usually prevented the overcorrection or overreaction danger inherent in any spellcasting. In this case, we had discovered that, since Chakra is a life energy and therefore all living things contain it, and since a ninja had much higher and more focused Chakra than, say, a tree, there was a Chakra imbalance in the immediate area. The spell, or what we hoped would become the basis for a spell, created a sort of ‘void’ in the localized area that evaluated the Chakra levels nearby, and would drain and redistribute them so as to make the localized levels equal. In effect, this would basically take a ninja’s high Chakra level and redistribute it among trees and grass and birds and anything else that was living in the area, draining it but providing for a point at which equilibrium would be achieved and the spell would end, hopefully leaving the ninja in question with much-depleted Chakra.
“That’s enough for today,” I said with a weary smile, putting the jar’s lid back on and setting it back on the table. It was nearly empty now; the four Orihalcon towers around the magic circle had been made to act as the ‘trees’ for this experiment, and there was barely a fifth of the Chakra that had been in the jar when we had started. “Tonight, we’ll rest, and tomorrow we have an appointment with someone who can help us with the next phase.”
“Next phase? You mean the part with the live experiment.” Kuriko chuckled and wrapped her arms around mine again. She certainly was pleased with herself at the moment. “All right, so we’re going to see this person who can tell us where to find a potentially good subject, right?”
“That’s correct.” I smiled down at her as we left the magical laboratory, and the door closed behind us. “We won’t be long, because after that, we’ll probably have to come back here and refine the spell, but let me tell you, we’ve made a big step here today. Come on, let’s get something to eat and rest up. We’ll be busy tomorrow.” The door to the laboratory disappeared as we left the library, and the shadows returned as the library light went out. The moon shone through the large window on the far wall, and the clouds made moving shadows that passed slowly over the library’s shelves.
Shadows
were not all that moved in the library.