Jiji no. 8

How The Kohns Makes The World Alive

“How are you called the ‘Nameless’?” Holder asked to the beautiful woman who had told him that her name is rather, ‘Nameless.’

The woman then laughed. “That’s what my Mama and Papa called me.”

“You have parents? Do Nymphs had parents? I thought they were all just a living entity born from the life force of nature?” asked Holder.

From what he impulsively asked, the woman in white—which the name is ‘Nameless’—laughed harder. She lost her feminine poise as she laughed, holding her hips with two of her hands, and coiling towards the ground, writhing in pain of excessive laughing.

“Why are you laughing hard?” Holder asked her.

“Nothing—HAHAHA—I am not—HAHAHA—laughing—HAHAHA—not laughing hard!” she denied, despite it was obvious.

“You are, can’t you see?” Holder replied, frowning.

What a woman she was. She can lose her poise with laughing, and even did rolling on the ground, just because of what he had told her. But what was wrong with what he asked?

“I’m sorry,” the woman said. She tried to calm herself. For few seconds, she was having a hard time to control her laughs. It was just naturally flowing out of her mouth—which really annoyed Holder. Jiji so too, then, was annoyed. But then after a couple of minutes of trying to calm her shaking self, she managed to stop laughing. She said, “I’m sorry again, I am—I just find what you’ve told as funny.” Her voice is angelic; phantom of the descending heaven’s light; godly.

How can he not forgive her then? No, he won’t let herself be angry to her anymore. She was really beautiful. And, to count, this was his first time to find and see a real nymph inside the forest. Nymphs are somewhat rare to find. They are afraid that they might be captured by humans and be enslaved with humanity’s brutality. A great decision, Holder thinks, for humans never dare to stop venturing the world of being evil.

“Why was it funny, then?” asked Holder.

“You said I am a nymph? No I am not,” Nameless said.

Holder gasped. Above him, Jiji gasped too. “You mean, you’re higher than a nymph?”

“No no! I am—”

“You’re a goddess?!”

Holder immediately went to his knees, bowed, and let his face met the flowers and the soil.

Nameless then frustratingly slapped her forehead. “My gods, this little man. Holder you sh—"

“FORGIVE ME OH GREAT GODDESS! You helped bring the world into one, and I boastfully did nothing but to ruin it and your name!”

The heaven roared and turned dark. Now the gods was enraged. Holder, however, mistaken, took the roaring of thunder as the ‘goddess’ in her front’s wrath.

“Forgive me, please, forgive me, please.”

The woman sighed. With a strong force, she dragged Holder upward, directed him to stand up, and then forced him to look directly in her face.

Holder was stunned with what he saw. When their faces was just a few inch away of each other, Holder realized how insanely beautiful the woman is. He gulped.

“Listen, Holder,” Nameless said. Holder then, eyes are wide, nodded frantically. “Alright, if you listen to me, you and Jiji’s life will be spared. Understood?”

“U—Understood.”

“Okay, do not get back on your knees or else the real gods would be more enraged to you.”

“Huh?”

“I said, real gods, okay? Real gods. Who says that I am a nymph or a goddess? I am not! I am also a human!”

Holder blinked. “You’re not a god? You’re fooling me?”

“I am not fooling anyone, Holder. Not even you. You yourself is the one fooling you.”

Nameless then removed her grasp to Holder’s shirt. She distanced a bit, and made a relieved sigh. The darkness in heaven and the thunderous roar stopped.

“Then who are you?” Then Holder reconsidered his question: “What are you, rather?”

“I am really having trouble with you. My name is Nameless. I am not a nymph or a god. I am just a human, just like you.”

“Then why do you have the power to change your appearance? And why are you living here, in the middle of the forest? Only the powerfuls have the power to do those kinds of living.”

“No, Holder. Humans can do it also, if they just knew how to control their Majicules and the power of the Kohns. And that is what I am doing. That is what I am special of.”

“Controlling the power of Kohns?” Holder reiterated. Fascination was streaming through his eyes. Jiji so too, stared at the space, and wondered what the power of the Kohns could do.

“Or we can say, the power of the nature,” Nameless added.

Holder then looked at the flowers streaming from the ground, growing abundantly in the middle of a scarce and dark forest.

“Are these flowers made of Kohns?”

“Sort of,” Nameless answered. “Kohns summoned it. While I am the one who summons the Kohns.”

Holder bit his lower lip. “What does this flowers would do to me and to Jiji?”

Nameless smiled. “Are you being interested?”

“Am I?” Holder asked to himself.

“Remember when you’re crossing to the forest earlier? I bet you heard different peculiar sounds.”

“Of animals. Birds mostly, I do.”

“I see,” the woman nodded, thinking, “well that is the test of your Natural Kohns.”

Holder did no told anything. He just waited for the next, much more elaborate answer to his confused and hungry questions.

“This forest, I discover fifty seven years ago, can identify the nature of one person’s Kohns.”

“Fifty seven years? Then you’re old!” Holder interrupted.

“I am. My real physical feature was the Baba you have seen near the statue of Sheh. Now, back to the discussion. This forest has been testing one person’s mental and physical readiness to handle and control the capability of using Kohn. That forest was the testing field made by the Kohns itself. Once you passed through the forest, and you are not yet prepared, you might lose your wit and wisdom. You’ll become crazy. Or worse, death.”

“But, I think there is nothing harmful to the forest. Only that it was too horrifying to see and hear. Nothing more,” Holder reasoned.

“That is because, as I have said, that you are already prepared. You have the stability of physicality, of mental, and, of course, mostly in spiritual strength. Don’t you know that an ordinary human who was not yet ready to summon the Kohns can be crazy or can kill themselves by just hearing those sounds?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“You should believe it. I have to always pull the corpse of humans who dared to enter the forest every single month. That is why the forest is called ‘Forest of the dead ghosts’.”

“That was the first time I heard it.”

“Because you’re from Hem, I know. Zen told me. And I too know, that scumbag general never dared telling my whereabouts to you.”

“Did you train Papa too?” asked Holder, fascinated.

“Of course!”

Jiji jumped away of Holder’s head. He chased a glowing butterfly, and ate it. But the butterfly was just like a trick of light, for it escaped from Jiji’s closed mouth. Jiji ate it again, and the same thing happened. Holder looked back at Nameless.

“I want to train about the Kohns. I want to know more about them. Or about the trick of whatever you are going to tell me. I think I would be needing it sooner or later.”

“Oh you would. But for now, allow me to treat you to a splendid tea in my house, if you want.”

Holder nodded. They started to head towards the small hut erected in the middle of the garden.

In the middle of that small hut, is a place full of randomly growing flowers, in rainbow-like colors. Holder complemented Nameless for her skills of maintaining the beauty of her flowers. Nameless says that the flower were maintained beautifully blooming, because she was maintaining her Kohn summoning as well. She too says that in right time, he would be able to muster it. For now, she should have to teach him the basics, which for Holder is boring.

When they were inside the hut, Holder felt the peace of the fresh air streaming to the house. An orchestra of peaceful beat of the wind, had made the house not eerie and dull. Holder said that he can stay here forever, if the wind remains the same. Nameless said that the wind can stay there. After all, it was she who controls the Kohns of the winds. But of course, she does not recommend to let Holder stay in her place.

After a few more minutes of preparation, Nameless had finally prepared the tea for Holder, fresh from the hot pot, and the fire. The tea, according to Nameless, is composed of different herbs such as jasmine, and a flower rare to see, named Takay: a maiden killed by the god of storms, and out of pity, was turned as a beautiful flower by the goddess of the moon.

“This is delicious!” Holder exclaimed.

“Is it? I am glad you had liked it. That silent guy Benedict, and that brat Lalaine had both disliked the taste of the tea.”

“Uh, Lalaine’s so pitiful. She cannot enjoy the tea,” Holder said, sighing.

“She’s so bland and stupid too,” Nameless said. She showed him her disgusted face as the talked about Lalaine.

Holder, out of spur of emotions, started to talk how pitiful Lalaine is. How complex-minded she is, even though today was just their second day of knowing each other. He said that the woman is a sadist. That he was almost about to die when she did a crazy trick of smashing his body to the ground. Nameless laughed from his narrations. Holder was too furious as he told his experiences to Lalaine. He also told Nameless about how he was left behind by the woman, despite knowing that his small ego was decently beaten. He too told about she confessing that she was following him all the time while he and Jiji was training at Benny Flick’s house. And then, he told Nameless about the horror of seeing a Demonic Lalaine, so eager to kill him.

Of all the things Holder told, his eyes has the glimpse of gleaming fascination—or something more.

“It seems to me that you like her rather than dislike her,” Nameless concluded.

“What? No I’m not,” Holder said, not knowing his cheeks were blushing.

“Seriously, you are like a teenage woman who was so stubborn with the world.”

“Hey, I’m not a woman.”

“Your stubbornness is.”

“Whatever,” Holder replied, rolling his eyes.

“See?”

****

Soon as they have finished their tea session, they headed out of the cool hut-house of Nameless. They found Jiji still playing in the flower field. This time, the slime had seven more illuminating butterflies as its friends trying to play with him.

“By the way, Nameless, are you sure you really are not a nymph?”

“I am not, okay. I am just a mere human who loves to play with the Kohns, like what Jiji was doing with the spiritual butterflies over there. Until I discovered a much more deeper secret about them: that they can be summoned. That the majicules inside their body can be used by a mere human to its will. It just depends, however, to the way how you would perceive the knowledge of summoning.”

“I’m getting excited with the training,” Holder said.

Nameless smiled. “Alright then, let me show you,” she said.

She placed both of her palms onto the air. Her eyes started to sharpen, and began to concentrate. She said, “for starters, Kohns summoned can vary depending on the emotions one person brings. If you are happy and contented, you can summon life-bearing, arts-appreciating Kohns. Just like the butterflies over there, and over every corners of the Central Kingdom. If you are sad, you might be summoning a gloom Kohn. They are extremely sturdy physically, to the point that those Kohns feels numb. They were like the mud monsters or a weeping adult slime. They can be used as a shield because of their sturdiness. Once afraid, you might be summoning a fast and extremely agile Kohns. You can use them to help you dodge or escape. Now not all Kohns can be good to summon. When you feel disgusted, you might summon a Kohn that is unshaped. Disgust does not have a shape. But they can cause a lot of trouble to the world, specially if the Kohn that you have summoned is something made of powerful loathe and disgust. The next emotion, through the emotion of anger or of rage, it would depend on how that emotion would be wielded from your inside. You might be able to summon a useful and powerful Kohn, or you may be able to summon a dangerous, something heinous, or evil Kohn.”

The last two emotion was the thing that Holder wanted not to have if ever he would summon a Kohn. Those are extremely dangerous emotions that he wouldn’t want to use. He doesn’t want to harm anyone.

“That too is the reason, Holder, why I don’t settle at the thought of teaching a lot of people about the secrets of the Kohn. Because they are extremely powerful and dangerous.”

“It is,” said Holder. “Is there any possibility this emotions can be controlled when summoning? How about the fact that you can change yourself from an old Baba to a nymph-like beauty? Was it something made of Kohns?”

Nameless nodded. “There is only one answer for all of your questions: you have to reach the peace and point of blankness in order to control the Kohns irregardless of your emotion. Then you’ll see, you may be able to summon a white Kohn. But each person has different kinds of white Kohns. Mine is youthfulness. To reach that, you shall have extreme power and concentration. It was complicated to execute too. In fact, of all the Sankt Vessel users that I have trained, only Benny was the successful one who can summon it. The others, they have been trying. But it takes time. By the time you can summon it, you can enjoy the privilege of controlling the Kohns in the nature too, even not minding with your emotions.”

“Then, I am itching to learn the power of the Kohns, Nameless! Teach me how!” the hungry for Knowledge Holder said.

“Care to assess what you are feeling first?” asked Nameless.

“Uhh . . . It was weird, but I feel extremely happy.”

“Of course! That is because of the tea. Takay Flowers can boost the serotonin in our body. That’s why you’re happy.”

“I don’t get what you’re saying. Just teach me, okay? If I am happy because of that tea, then I might as well use it to train.”

“Precisely.”

Nameless looked in her front. Her eyebrows met each other. Extreme concentration happened to come to her again. Her palm started to glow in purple. Then she smiled, a satisfied smile. “The secret for summoning the Kohns in the emotion of happiness, is that you should know how to visualize them. Talk to them, as if talking to your friend. Wield that tight feeling in your gut, and place it in your hands, on your palm. Feel the heat, and with that heat, charm the Kohns that you see and envision. Until you can summon them.”

As soon as she finished her explanation, here hands glowed brighter in purple. Sooner, the purplish butterflies bursted in the air. Perhaps a fleet of fifty flutters.

“It’s your turn,” said Nameless.

Holder bit his lips. Of all those things Nameless explained, he hadn’t gotten most of its concepts.

“Uh, let me try,” he said.

He placed his palm in his front, and started to concentrate. A purple light glimmered on his palm.

‘Now what’s next?’ he asked himself. He just trusted his gut. A tight feeling started to erupt from his chest. Extremely tight. Overflowing. Something that he cannot easily control.

‘Hey, hey, hey, stop!’ he started to panic.

The feeling passed onto his shoulder. It was not heavy, but it was something he is afraid would explode once released. He tried stopping and suppressing it. But he cannot. He was out of control. It would be released by his palm uncontrollably—in no sooner time.

‘gods, may Nameless forgives me.’

Then the power bursted. He flew backwards. A thousand swirl of butterflies started to erupt in the sky. Thousand. It was like a sudden storm of glowing creatures, fluttering in the sky with its elegant wings.

Nameless was stunned. Frozen. Amazed. Mouth left hanging open.

There are a lot of Kohns. Too many to precisely count.

And, it was not just purplish Kohns, unlike what Nameless summoned. There are other colors of butterflies as well. She hadn’t thought that yet, because she has not yet mastered all of that Kohns. That That blue, green, and red butterflies. And the white Kohns. Why had he summoned a white Kohn? This was just his first time summoning, wasn’t it? Perhaps that was just a Kohn part of his extreme concentration. She can only see at least ten white Kohns among the huge numbers it has. But what she was fascinated about, was the golden Kohn. Five of them, being followed by other Kohns. That was the first time she saw it. And she doesn’t have any idea to what was it supposed to be.

Holder stood up. He saw Jiji excitedly rushing to the fleet of thousand butterflies. She swam through them, and the Kohns started to play with him. He was so happy.

“Hey,” He called to the still stunned Nameless. “I think you have given me a strong concentration of that tea. There’s a lot of happy Kohns I summoned.”

“No,” Nameless said. She then hesitated, then retrieved what she said, “I mean yes.” And then retrieved, “I mean no.”

She’s confused.

“What happened to you, nameless.”

“The tea does not have anything to contribute to the number of Kohns that will be summoned. The emotions are just the indicator of your Kohns to be summoned. The numbers or the power of the Kohn, it wasn’t linked with the emotions. It was linked with the summoner’s strength.”

She looked at Holder. “Holder, never have I met anyone who can summon that big number of Kohns in their first attempt. Not even I, can do that fascinating thing.”