Spectral Terrace --Episode 2--

Spectral Terrace
Episode 2
"Understanding Power"


I fussed my hair back to its normal intended shape, then I interjected into this unneeded interrogation. "Living blind? What are you guys talking about? Listen, I'm sorry that I don't keep up with current fads, but what is all this talk about living blind when clearly my eyes function properly," I said without a second thought, speaking my mind clearly as always.

Nathan and Sirie both turned to look at each other with questioning faces, as if they needed group effort to solve an intense puzzle.

Nathan was the first to propose a question towards me, the beginning of a bombardment of questions directly aimed at my lack of understanding. "Okay okay, Allocen Ragmire. Do you remember when the mist cleared. That one day nearly two years ago?" Nathan asked honestly, his question was accompanied by a sudden decrease in agitation from both their attitudes, thank goodness. I shortly enjoyed the settling mood they transitioned into, but the question dislodged that emotion real fast.

"It's Allocen Ragmore! And of course I do! Who would forget something like the mist!?" I spoke with most control, only leaking out a little anger. I sat there on Nathan's bed, arms folded and head bowed with eyes closed in concentration. I figured with their recent and random bursts of intensity that my future questions would require more focus and self-control.

"Okay, so you remember the mist, but what about Jerito Nott?" Sirie asked while I noticed they both inched a little closer to me, indicating some importance in my next response.

Slightly nervous I said, "Who?" You could practically see the pupils in their eyes grow wide as the reality of what I didn't know seemed to hit them hard, but then it was shrugged away mildly as if they sensed deception in my tone.

"Oh, of course you do! Remember, he was on the news and everyone thought he was crazy. You have to remember!" Sirie explained further while Nathan looked like he had suddenly lost all hope in me and grabbed his chest so dramatically, gasping for air with a fainting look on his face.

I pondered before answering. It could be entirely possible I've seen this guy on the news. Since it was what I used to watch every morning. "Through all my pondering, no sorry. I don't recall ever seeing such a person on the news. Why? Does this person play some significant role in this?" I confessed truthfully, desperately grasping for answers to my own questions.

Through this experience, I noticed a distinct difference between Nathan and Sirie. Either Nathan was a very good, but slightly over dramatic actor or he caved under pressure rather easy and even if the pressure was indirectly proportional to him. Sirie on the other hand held her composure with no trouble at all. They compliment each other quite well, now that I think about it. Like two halves of a complete whole.

"Do you want to tell him or should I?" Sirie turned to ask Nathan. Nathan looked deeply into her eyes for a second, looking for confidence I'd surmise. Then, a small smile spread across his face and he appeared triumphant as he turned to face me, mouth agape and ready to unleash the unknown and portentous truth to my dumbfounded ignorance of the past.

"I'll explain this, but not here. Come on, follow me!" Nathan announced. Then he suddenly grabbed my hand and we whipped out the door quickly.

Just as we burst into the hallway we confronted a young man from one side of the corridor standing hunched over near the room entrance, panting heavily. His short black bangs hung just over his eyes and a beat of sweat trickled down his right cheek.

He rose and jumped back suddenly after spotting the three of us. "Oh captain, I was looking for you! It's an emergency!" His tired voice went from surprised to urgent.

Nathan released my hand finally and turned his head quickly to look at Sirie. I watched as they exchanged serious faces and sprinted down the hall with the young man. I stood abandoned, but thankful nonetheless. "Later then ...", my words just trailed off in the awkward air for no one to hear. Let loose, I took the opportunity and quickly changed clothes and took to my own discoveries and began to wonder around.

I looked both ways out of my dorm room like I was crossing the road, right before walking down the other end of the corridor and away from the two individuals who thought "I" was the crazy one. After all, I haven't really seen everything in the dormitory and now was as good as time as any to explore.

Boring...boring, seen it, been there, eaten that, didn't need to see that, done that. Random assortments of pictures lined the hall that I walked down. It was like the hall of people, places, and failed appetizers. Maybe they denoted an entire hall to some photography technology club. It did spread some colorful, vibrant life onto a would be barren and tacky, purple wallpaper.

The width of the hall remained at a two person maximum all the way to the corner at the end of the hall. I looked down the new corridor with excitement, but then only seeing more dorm lined walls. Another dorm hall or maybe this could be an elaborate assortment of utility closets? Or probably just more dorm rooms.

Lining the opposite side of this hall were what looked like newly installed windows. One window per every other dorm room, making the walk down the hall a little more interesting. I tried only to step on the sun-lit panels of light just for the sake of amusement. When you got nothing to amuse yourself at precise moments, you invent little ways to keep your mind awake, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Paying more attention to my amusement, I didn't notice someone walking down the opposite end of the hall, right towards me. As I sensed the person was getting closer to me, I lifted my head and smiled to come off friendly. My behavior didn't have any effect it seemed as a hard shoulder thrust into mine, pinning my back against the wall.

"Excus....". I began to whisper, but what I didn't expect was a flying fist coming for my head. My body evaded itself and the fist was now centimeters from my face, in the wall. I didn't say anything, but starred seriously at the short, slick red hair almost touching my nose. The red hair raised and a pair of green eyes met mine.

"Damn, what is this girls' problem?"

The second our eyes met, my legs closed quickly by themselves, just fast enough to stop her leg from thrusting into me. More punches flew left and right, keeping me confined to a very small space against the wall, which felt like it was going to cave-in from all the damage. As you can imagine, this was creating some noise and a few dorm doors slowly opened for curious eyes to investigate.

I glanced quickly to see a couple of faces, both girl and boy take one look and then closed their doors. I looked back at my attacker's face, to try to see some emotion powerful enough to justify this outburst. Nothing, no tears, no redness of frustration or sweat. She just looked disgusted in a weird, normal way.

"Get out of there man. Come here!", a voice said from my side as someone pulled me out from under the flying fists. My eyes didn't leave the girl for a few seconds, until she pulled her fists out from the wall and casually walked away down the other end of the hall. I turned to look at the person who pulled me out of this situation.

He appeared to be a little older than me; maybe in his early twenties. His smooth, spiked black hair reminded me of someone I once knew. "What the hell was that?" I asked casually. I haven't gotten in this kind of contact for a while, but I noticed my body was still calm unlike my mind.

"You wouldn't think pink low-riders and a high-cut, white sweater meant trouble." I looked at him oddly. For him to state out loud her clothing probably meant they were together or he was a pervert. I didn't really want to know.

"Oh, so it was just wrong guy, wrong place kinda deal then, huh?" I asked, as he walked over to the wall and poked his fingers through the fist sized holes in the wood.

"I just don't know how you avoided all of her throws." Some crumpled fragments of the wall drifted down the floor as a few dorm rooms opened to see the aftermath. A small crowd of students gathered around with astonished looks on their faces towards me, not the wall.

"How about I tell you all about it somewhere else?" I said to the guy who was still admiring the damage on the wall, smiling with a hand held on his chin. He eyes lifted after I spoke and he looked around quickly, then nodded.

"I know just the place. Follow me."


I arrived in another staged room. Although, this one was much smaller. The wooden stage occupied about half the room and was actually the only structure in the room. A small gang of people where already in the room when we got there, just sitting and talking to each other.

"I thought you were taking me to a place where we could talk." I sighed frankly and rolled my eyes, like I didn't see this coming from my experiences here so far.

"I did, but first I wanted you to meet the crew." He smiled and stomped hard on the floor, getting everyone's attention. They all calmly stood and looked at me with some interest.

"This is my team of seven. On the far left there is Hank. That one is Lily, Jass, Jonathan, and Winchester." He pointed out the individuals and they all respectfully nodded in my direction when their names were said. About time I find some sane people around here with decent upbringings.

"Wait, that only makes six, including you."

"You already met Kira." Another smile came across his face. Everyone's eyes widened and at that moment I was the most popular guy around. They all came up to me suddenly and began to look over my body, expecting something maybe?

"Wow, not even a scratch. You're pulling our legs, right Zig?" one of the girls said while touching my face. Her hand was very soft, but the reality was that people who I didn't know were touching me without even taking to mind my consideration in the matter.

"Alright, enough of that now!" I spoke firmly while brushing away their poking fingers and touching hands.

"No fricken way! He would have to be like half-cat or something," one of the guys huffed after looking at me disgracefully. I half smiled, slightly insulted at his creative explanation.

"He does look kinda squirrelly," the guy near on the far left responded, adjusting his glasses like they could see that characteristic inside me.

"No joke guys. Don't believe me, check out the hall." The guy on the far right; Winchester I believe. The only guy shorter than me and by a decent number of inches, sprinted out the door at a surprising speed into the hall. Before I was about to say something, he returned into the room and stood right in front of me. He took a good slow look from the tip of my toes to the top of my head.

"Woah, Zig wasn't just stringing us along." I looked down at him with his very surprised expression. He blinked a couple times and took a step back to where he was before, beside the other girl.

The guy that pulled me out the tumble, Zig I guess; that's what the "crew" calls him anyways, walked over to me and met my eyes, expressing some curiosity in his face. "How did you do that back there anyways?" he asked.

I really haven't thought about that for a long time. It doesn't bring up the most welcoming of memories. At least most of the time. "My grandpa taught some things."

"You don't say..." he pressed his hand on his chin again and faced the others like he wanted the others to share in the interest with him.

"Listen, I'm sorry to leave so soon, but clearly you saw what happened, so there is no need to explain myself anymore. Nice meeting all of you." I explained while everyone stood looking at me, silently.

"Wait a sec there. Um...I'm sorry but, I never got your name." Zig slid in as I walk back under the doorway. I stopped for a second and thought about wether or not I should tell him or just keep walking knowing that the apologetic word he said was a lie.

I turned around once more to take another look at their faces. They did seem to hold some genuine interest in my answer so I said, "Allocen Ragmore". Before I could decide whether to leave or stay, they all crowded around me and placed their arms on my shoulders.

"Allocen, no need to be unfriendly man, you're around friends here. Come on, we have something to ask you."Zig spoke calmly, resting an arm on my shoulder and proceeded me towards the stage while everyone else responded with similar words of encouragement.

"What do you guys want with me?" I asked with my own curiosity, hoping to get some reasonable response.

"Dude, you would so get us the win if you joined up with us!" The guy with the glasses pointed out, smiling with this small mouth.

"Totally, he would definitely keep us above the rest, tee hee." The girl called Jass giggled as she wrapped herself around one of my arms, like I was a big teddy bear.

"If he is this good without SP, just imagine with!" The girl with light brown skin slightly shouted to the group as she took my other arm, smiling at Jass across from me.

"Ehh... maybe" The tall, loosely clothed Jonathan murmured without much enthusiasm. I was surprised he didn't make another animal analogy.

"Couldn't hurt. Why not guys?" The large, dark skinned Hank laughed in his deep voice.

"So what activity does your team participate in?" I asked, curious as to what sport this odd assortment of people would be good at.

Zig smiled kinda awkwardly and said "Spectre battles of course!"

"What's a spectre?" I asked right away. Zig's smile dropped instantly and burst into laughter. With him as the leader, everyone else soon joined in the laugh.

"Oh man, he's witty too," Zig laughed and put an arm on my shoulder to hold him steady from his impulsive laughter.

"He isn't kidding Zig," Winchester spoke in plain fashion now right in front of me again, looking up at my face.

"Of course I'm not. I've never heard that word before," I reaffirmed my question.

"Maybe they call it something different where he's from, huh Zig?" Jass spoke softly.

"Impossible. That's the universal term," Zig announced frankly. Immediately, Winchester took three steps away from me as everyone all looked at me in different, but equally shocked faces.





"Oh wait, is this that game the whole dorm is crazy about?" I asked just realizing the degree of familiar shock I witnessed. Just then, I heard one solitary step behind me, but I didn't turn around.

"Kira." The word seemed like it came out of Zig's mouth by accident.

"What... " Her voice so painfully un-existent of care or desire. My body shivered for a second hearing it for the first time. I kept my eyes straight, but my body new something could happen. It tensed by itself as if it was ready to withdraw some stored power.

She walked past me and through the crew. The crew then took slow glances at her and then back at me. She walked to the center of the stage and sat down near the center in a very relaxed and focused form. Crossing her legs, bringing her hands together, and closed her eyes without the slightest noise.

I couldn't take the ignorance anymore. Whatever this game is, I will beat them at it so I won't get laughed at anymore. Everyone held an uneasy expression on their faces. I began to push through them and walk towards Kira as I started they all grabbed my arms and whispered, "Don't! No, don't!"

Shrugging them off of me, I walked and sat in front of Kira on the small, round stage. I took the same form as her and sat there looking at her without making a single sound. Her eyes opened slowly and met mine.

"What do you want?" Her words felt insult, even if there wasn't a harsh word in the sentence.

"Teach me." I said using no emotion to trigger a reason, only pure focus.

"Woah, woah. Believe me, you don't want to do that," Zig shouted, jumping over next to me with everyone else us.

"Listen Allocen.. " Zig began to say, but he was interrupted.

"No! He must fight with me directly, otherwise he won't understand power!" Kira spoke loudly. I didn't really understand what she meant by that, but she sounded confident to help me now.

"Damn, where did I put our recording software again? Jonathan, give me a hand!" Winchester blabbed out quickly with unexpected excitement as Jonathan ran with him towards the door.

"Guys! Come on now... " Zig said disappointingly, then frowning at the remaining group of girls and one guy.

"Aww, thanks Zig. You're the best!" Jass said, giving Zig a kiss on the cheek and grabbed Hank as they began to mount a large monitor on the nearest wall and sat quietly facing it, whispering to each other.

"I call Beholder!" shouted an enthusiastic Lily while raising her slender arm in the air like she had a question.

Lily walked to one side of the room and opened a hidden door out from the wall. She shortly came back to the stage with a mess of wires and electronics and looked up at Zig with a puppy dog pout on her face. How did... ? This is a weird room or college for that matter.

"Aww, fine!" Zig shouted and put a hand to his forehead, taking a deep sigh. Lily giggled happily and walked behind him, and pushed on a part of the wall to reveal another secret compartment. She wheeled out a computer on top of a small table. Lights and sounds emitted from the machine as everything was already working and running. She began to hook up the mess of wires she had already brought out into the numerous plug-in's on the computer.

"All ready here!" Lily stated after speedily typing something on the computer and walking back over to the mess of wires and cords still near the stage.

I looked back at the pile of wires to see something resting under them. Lily dug her arms through the pile and pulled out a familiar looking metal helmet. "What is that?" I asked curiously.

Lily was straightening back her long black hair when she was about to put on the helmet, "This is called the Link Cap. The person wearing it is called the Beholder. It..." Lily was explaining when Kira also interrupted her.

"We'll explain that later. For now focus on what I'm gonna tell you." I nodded acknowledging. Maybe now I will learn the real reasons to what everyone is so insane about. Kira is the only person I've seen who isn't even slightly crazy about someone who knows nothing about the very special "something" everyone should know about.

Kira took a few seconds again to look into my eyes seriously and took a good, clean breathe.

"Preceding the disappearance of the eternal mist over the earth exactly one year and four months from this day, a man named Jerito Nott discovered something he could do now that he couldn't do when the mist was present. Somehow through some deep meditation, he could travel to an unknown part in his mind."Hey, I heard that name before! Instead of shouting that out, I played dumb and just made some other statements.

"Travel to an unknown part in his mind? That doesn't even sound real."

"Truthfully, we use every part of the brain, so nothing is completely unknown. But, the experience that Mr. Nott described could not be located in any part of the brain, thus its' path or even existence is unknown by any scientific means."

"So everyone thought he was crazy? Sounds like that to me," I stated shaking my head slightly.

Kira looked back seriously and said, "We all thought he was crazy, till we saw it."

"Saw what?"

"The Spectre's." Kira's voice echoed a silent uneasiness, the same feeling that always accompanies the spoken words of rare truth. My eyes opened and I leaned my head in a little closer, waiting to hear the rest.

"The act you called a game, is actually the same Jerito Nott discovered that day."

"Wait, he found a forest with two things fighting each other in his mind?" I asked almost huffing in amusement.

"The glowing beings that you saw are called Spectre's. They are controlled by each person's mind."

"Okay, so what about the forest then?" I asked with my hand resting on the side of my face, expecting a equally weird answer.

"No one really knows that one. Everyone has their theories. And we don't call it the forest. We refer to it as the Spectral Terrace," Zig answered quickly before Kira's lips could move.

"Why you call it a terrace? It's a forest." I asked.

"Don't know why. That's just what Jerito called it when he first went there," Zig answered shrugging without an real answer.

"Let me see if I'm up to speed so far. Through some kind of deep mental focus, one can tap into a forest in their mind and control something called a Spectre," I said plainly, expecting humor to spring on me from somewhere.


"You don't just control the Spectre. You are the Spectre," Zig stated, folding his arms as he casually looked down at me.

"What do you mean, you are it?"

"When you reach the Spectral Terrace, your mind doesn't occupy your physical form. You take on the form of a Spectre. Which is like this ghostly humanoid kinda thing. You just have to see it," Zig explained.

"So what's the purpose of taking on the form of a Spectre and all that?" I said looking up at Zig.

He smiled and rolled up his sleeves to show his biceps, "To fight!"

"To fight?" I said slowly.

"Yep." He smiled.

"What's the purpose of fighting then?"

"Well, scientists have mentally tested that fighting with Spectre's is the same mental equivalent of practicing the martial arts. Basically, all the mental benefits of the martial arts without actually, well doing them."

I think things were starting to come together and make sense, plausible more than possible by far. I didn't imagine a motive for them to lie to me, although the reason why people were doing this, the reason why anyone would do this, because of the benefits, would make sense. But, I still had one question floating around in my mind for the two of them.

"Why...?" Oddly, that's all I could say. Like gravity hit me hard just right there. I felt very weird all of a sudden, as if I said something I shouldn't have.

"Why what?" Zig asked confused. I looked up at him and remained thinking as if all these supposed answers clouded the real question I wanted to ask.

"Why is it like that?" The pure, simplistic fashioned answer made me feel stupid. All this logic I was learning was completely unknown to me and without answering every question, I couldn't take anything to heart.

"Why is it like that there? Why is their a Spectral Terrace? Well, that is the only question absolutely noone knows, not even Jerito. Everyone has their own theories, a couple I can think of are: This act of being something in your mind and using it to fight is just one of our human senses that hasn't awoken until now, like learning we could use our nose to smell, we can now use our mind to Spectre battle."


"Know any other theories?" My words were eager now, like listening to someone important speak about the welfare of the world.

"Hmm... some others theories are like, Spectre's are just voluntary dreams used by the government to monitor our minds and uh... the only other one I can think of is that there might be secret facilities around the world that project the concept of the Spectre's through brain waves we can pick up through deep mental focus, for some gain or something or the future of virtual reality maybe."

"Why do I always get laughed at when I refer to it as a game then?" I asked firmly, making a clear point.

"You just have to experience it for yourself." Zig said honestly, folding his arms and chuckling slightly towards Kira, who held no humor inside her and just kept looking at me all the more serious. Maybe, it's like when you really get into a game, like a huge baseball or basketball fan. Saying things like, oh it's only a game, and everyone gets mad at you, because it means much more than that to them. Personal experience counts for everything, that just might be the case here.

"So where do we begin?" I asked towards both Kira and Zig, ready to experience this seemingly in-human feat. Kira glanced at Zig for a moment then they looked back at me.

Just then the noise of running feet was heard behind us as the rest of the crew returned. Winchester triumphantly held a single disc high in the air as Jonathan rested against the doorframe panting heavily.

"I found the software, ah ha! And look Jonathan, we didn't miss it yet!" Winchester boldly stated and slightly giggled with excitement as he looked at us. Him and Jonathan joined Jass and Hank by the big monitor and stared up at its large surface, waiting for something to happen.

"You ready for this?" Kira asked me straight. I nodded with diligence and stared at her seriously.

"Close your eyes and do exactly what I say, exactly what I say!"