Nature or Nurture Ch. 51-56

'But easy is not always better, my child,' master Man observes, 'you learned a lot doing it, and soon you will not need the ritual anymore, you will be able to do it all by yourself. And after that, despite your not being Chinese, you will get the request to help others by responding to the call of the ritual.'

'So you know how it works?' Adison is amazed, master Man didn't tell her that a group of masters is behind the ritual that can remove possessions, but as she speaks, she realizes he is probably part of it. He smiles, knows an answer is no longer needed, and says instead, 'All masters take turns in the collective, it can be tiring work but it makes the world a better place. People's minds should be free, not bound to serve other people. Though it can be a nuisance to get a call for help in the middle of the night or when one is busy doing something else altogether.'

Is master Man being droll?

No matter, Adison tells him about Jakob, who leads his own collective of magic-users, and the master does not shy from the difference in culture and tradition.

'They know things we need to find out, and we can undoubtedly teach them something as well. Please help us arrange a meeting, there are few enough of us that we should work together.

How's your little daughter?'

Describing the confrontation with the witches, including Catherine's use of magic and sight, they see master Man nodding in understanding, and he observes, 'I did think her abilities would come to life early, the enemy wasn't after her for nothing. Have you found more information on him as well?'

'It is very possible that he is a mortal like us, not a god or a god-like entity, and that his attempts to seduce Miss Yves to his side were part of a plot to gain godhood. But that is not certain at all,' Vincent states, 'we were hoping you would be able to shed some light on something we did find out.'

And he hands master Man the box with the little figurine.

'This was found in the collection of a man who seems to know the man who was once my master, and Mina's as well. He was the one after Miss Yves, we know that for certain, but neither Mina nor I remember Mrs Poole being under his dominion. It may very well be that she worked for herself.'

Master Man is listening to Vincent, but he is also studying the little box, and his observations match Paul's closely.

'This is excellent craftsmanship, the make is English, and it is meant to keep in magic, but but magic the creator valued, and carefully, or he would have used cold iron instead of copper for the hinges, and he would have nailed it together. That keeps in magic much more efficiently than the use of a special kind of wood, and a very subtle pattern in the grain of the wood. Can you see it?'

He traces the grain of the wood around the box, and it indeed matches perfectly on all sides.

'And not just that, but see this pattern here, also on all sides?'

Showing them a kind of swirl in the pattern, not uncommon in wood, but very beautiful nonetheless, he says, 'In our culture, this mark symbolises eternity, and it is also in exactly the same spot on all sides, not just the four, but the top and bottom as well. Of course this is from a totally different culture, but often these symbols do coincide. Somehow, men aren't that different all over the globe. What all of this means to me, is that this box was designed and made to guard the contents against discovery and defilement, not to capture them and hold them prisoner.'

That is an interesting development, and both Adison and Vincent hang on every word master Man speaks, hoping to hear more.

He opens the box carefully, and shows no real surprise at the contents. With everything he told them before opening it, he must have expected something of the kind, he must have sight as well, he knows Vincent's body is different. After looking at the figurine for a while with at the very least respect for its craftsmanship, master Man looks at Vincent intently.

'May I take it out for a moment, very carefully?'

Somehow, that never occurred to any of them, not even Paul or Victor, who seem to be the most inquisitive of their lot. Vincent nods.

'Be my guest, I'm actually quite curious what the figurine is made of, and I'm more than happy to let you do the honours.'

Very carefully, the old man now lifts the little figurine out of the box, and turns it around. The back is as detailed as the front, it must have taken a very gifted carver weeks to make.

'I think it is made of either bone, or ivory,' master Man says, after studying it a little longer, 'the hair and the colouring were added later, of course.'

He puts it back into the box as carefully as he took it out.

'The person who gave you this did you an immeasurable service. It does not look exactly like you, it is clearly an image of your predecessor, not you, and it feels inactive, but there is an unmistakeable link to you inside it.

I suppose you suspect that this was used to bring you back to life, in the way of witch-craft in your country?'

They both nod and confirm.

Master Man observes, 'That is probably true, but it was designed to do more. It was designed to control your body but your mind as well, taking your personality away and preparing your body to be taken over by someone else.

A total possession that your character would not have survived. It failed, or you wouldn't be standing here, but your memory-loss proves it didn't fail altogether. Some of your personality was wiped out, and Adison filled that in during the period that she raised you. The love she gave you made you who you are now. But though you may not remember your former life, a lot of your character will be a remnant of those years. Once totally lost that cannot be regained, no-one, not even a priestess, can build a character out of nothing.'

A bit ashamed that they haven't visited master Man since their return from Thomas, Vincent tells him, 'My memories returned overnight when we visited Adison's father, just before I started rehearsals at St James'. I'm sorry we never visited to tell you.'

'That is most interesting, and further proof that this figurine didn't work as it should have. Too bad we cannot look inside a person, see whether something went wrong with the body as well.'

Adison now decides she needs to know, does master Man have sight? He saw the talent in Catherine, but then he should see the weird connection in Vincent as well, shouldn't he?

'Master Man,' Adison asks, 'do you have sight, can you see that particular light in people who can do magic, as we call it?'

'I think I know what you mean, dear child, and I do, but yours seems to have vanished.'

That's it, he sees it.

'Do you remember what Vincent looked like using that vision?'

This is difficult to explain, but Adison will try.

'If I use a certain formula I can still see it, but I remember also. It is clear that his light is tightly connected to his body, making him faster and stronger than any of us. I knew it was so before I looked at him with the eyes of the gods, since his skin is totally white.'

No-one can bring staggering facts as coolly as master Man. He knows why Vincent's skin is white?

He laughs at their incredulous expression, and states, 'The power of what you call magic, and we call the blessing of the gods, must be everywhere in him, for it has bleached his skin free of all colour. Like sun does to cloth, but much faster.'

Of course, it's the magic! His new skin was the normal colour of skin, but it started turning white after a few hours, and was totally white after a day or so!

'It's all so logical,' Vincent observes, 'blood goes everywhere, also beneath the skin.'

'But what were you trying to tell me, my child?' master Man asks quietly, 'something about your beloved's body being connected to his magic power?'

He is surprisingly adaptable, using the term magic already as if he has always known of its existence.

'We have reason to believe that whoever spelled his body back to life, wanted to wake a dormant magic talent into an active one, enabling the body to take power in through the nerves, giving it an endless supply of power. Apparently that is the way gods acquire it. But we suspect something went wrong, accidentally tying the talent to the body, the power trickling into his blood instead of to pockets where it could be stored. A friend of ours who can see through almost anything saw it happen inside him.'

This is something master Man needs to contemplate.

He summarizes, 'So the power comes in through the nerves, then goes into pockets where it is stored. And this works for all mages?'

'No, most mages have their own magic power, and if they can use that power from outside, they cannot store it.'

Adison thinks that is the right explanation.

'So maybe the maker forgot to include the pockets, making it impossible to store the power, forcing it into the body, into the blood.'

Sometimes the solution can be so simple it just seems totally impossible, but could it truly be that someone learned how gods gather power and had the mind and the power to arrange a spell to reach that goal, then forget an essential detail like power-pockets?

Still, Adison wants to submit Victor's theory to master Man's acute mind.

'Could Victor have ruined the spell by cutting through some essential point in the body? A place where a person's essence lies? Or by changing the look of the body with those cuts? They were rather profound, and the figurine doesn't have them.'

Considering this while having no clue of how magic works, yet, is too much to ask. Master Man admits, 'It could be, but we must also consider the possibility that this is just an accident. Remember, your friend used a lightning-strike to resurrect you, Vincent, and that wreaks havoc on your nerves as well. Maybe the combination of the magic meant to release your talent and the power of the lightning strike opened your talent too far. And when there was no place for the magic power to go, it spread through your body, disturbing the mind wipe. It's as likely as something else disturbing the spell, lightning is unpredictable and very powerful.'

'I can believe your theory, master Man,' Vincent says feelingly, 'I still remember the agony I was in, my entire body was on fire, and it stayed painful for weeks, all over, that must have been the effect of the lightning plus my nerves getting used to taking in power. We'll consider this theory, thank you so much for your insight.'

'It is the most simple explanation, building a spell to make someone a god is very difficult, an accident is way more likely,' Adison adds.

'Were you in agony all that time, Vincent? I didn't notice beyond the first day.'

'As soon as you held me the pain became bearable, my love.'

The infatuation in Vincent is so endearing, and still so profound.

'Though if I hadn't been so confused and forgetful, I could have had a lot of use out of a few painkillers. Somehow I just thought that pain was part of life, not until it started to gradually lessen after a few days did I realize it wasn't. My mind was wiped rather thoroughly, though I did remember a lot of practical things as Adison showed them to me.'

Now master Man looks at Vincent gravely.

'Vincent, you keep this out of sight all the time, do not destroy it unless someone with great experience tells you it is safe. I think it can still be used to gain control over your mind, that is what it was created for. Maybe that was what it was kept for. I don't know, but it is not a talking piece, it is something to keep safe and secret.'

He looks positively pensive, their aged friend.

'You gave me a lot of food for thought, but I'll digest that later. Now tell me about your father, Adison, how is he doing? You told me you had visited him?'

They spend a very pleasant half-hour telling master Man about their visit, and he is not at all surprised that Adison's mother did know about magic. After that they demonstrate their bicycles, people from all over the quarter coming by to have a go or just watch. One man is very intent, and he asks, 'Can you use one of those to pull a cart? It's so much easier to care for than a mule.'

Of course they have never seen anything like a bicycle pulling a cart in the city, bicycles are still mostly toys for very rich people, and they cannot imagine pulling a cart with a bicycle, but Vincent promises to ask the maker of their vehicles. He'll know what can or cannot be done.