Crickle-crackle.


    Alex looked out at the massive bonfire burning in the center of the village, a wooden cup in his hand and a fermented fruit juice of some kind sloshing inside. He didn''t know what fruit it came from, but it tasted sickly sweet, especially considering the lack of sugar cane on the island. He rested his elbow on one knee and let the other leg lay straight toward the fire. The heat burned through his boots, but it was a comforting heat.


    James lay on a rug beside him, stretched out so that his back was straight but still with his head propped on his arms as he looked into the fire. The old man could barely walk back to the village without complaining about his back pain. Even with all his strength, James couldn''t fight age.


    The others were resting or off doing their own thing. The village was built of rounded buildings with dried, pointed grass roofs, each surrounded by a circular deck. Inside, some were communal sleeping areas, with hammocks tied between a central pole and the outer poles that made up the building.


    Alex didn''t feel like sleeping, both because of his body and because of the new environment, so he volunteered to stay up and keep an eye on their hosts. They seemed fine, but trust had to be earned.


    "You sure you''re going to be alright?" Alex asked.


    "I''ll be fine in a day or two. I just pushed these old bones too hard in our little sparring match." James laughed, turning his head and wincing. "You can''t beat old age. You can only accept it."


    "Don''t say that." Alex shook his head. "I can feel the clock ticking."


    "You in a rush to live your life?"


    "I''m not from here." Alex shrugged, taking a sip from the drink. "I want to get back, but every year that passes is another that I''m away from home."


    "Ah." James sighed. "I know that feeling, though I left my home by choice. I was from April, you know. Made my way through the Academy and joined the Military Police to see the world. Then I got shipped off to the Dark Meridian."


    "What''s it like?" Alex asked.


    "The Dark Meridian?" James asked, reaching an arm around to push up his glasses. "Chaos. We''ve tried to build a decent foothold in it, but there are just too many competing powers. It''s nothing like Erth or the Empyrean. Everything here is just too orderly, too controlled."


    "And being in the Military Police?" Alex asked. "You ran away from it, right?"


    "I did do that." James sighed, staring at the fire again.


    Bzzt.


    Insects buzzed around them in the night, but Alex didn''t push. They had a long time to wait until the morning, and neither of them seemed to want to sleep. Alex was sure that James had his own reasons for it.


    "You weren''t in the Military Police, right?" James asked.


    "They detained me for a while," Alex said. "But I''ve never joined. Why do you ask?"


    "You used ''step'' in the fight." James shrugged. "While techniques happen regardless, very few people who aren''t in the service learn the Path of Step."


    "That''s because someone taught me it," Alex said. "Might, too. What about you? ''Flash Fist'' isn''t one of the Five Paths."


    "It isn''t. I''m sure you figured it out already on your own, but the Paths are a fallacy. They''re a standardized way to look at the manipulation of aether."


    Alex tilted his head. He had applied ''might'' to his curse and used ''step'' to help speed himself up while also using his curse, but he thought of those as more an application of one of the paths, not a contradiction. However, James was telling him something different.


    "What are you talking about?"


    "That ''Acceleration Piston'' you did back in ruins, how did you do it?"


    "I used my curse to push myself off the wall while kicking off with my feet at the same time." Alex closed his eyes for a moment as he tried to focus. "I applied ''step'' to throw myself off with more force."


    "But you didn''t use ''step,''" James said, a crooked grin cracking his face. "Step is a technique to kick the ground really fast. What would happen if you did the same with your arms?"


    "Steel Barrage," Alex said, though he had been sure he copied that from Goldfist with his ''Golden Blows.''


    "So you''ve already done it."


    "Maybe." Alex grimaced.


    "What other paths do you know?"


    "Might," Alex said, but he already knew where it was going. "I''ve funneled the same aether for ''might'' into my arms before, made one big metal fist to squash a big bug."


    "That''s what I mean," James said. "The Five Paths are a standardization for manipulating aether, not the be all end all of techniques."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "So what, I should just ignore them?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man.


    "That''s not quite right either." James sighed. "They''re good for learning the basics; you should learn the basics of all five if you can. But beyond that, you have to apply the principles behind them. Especially since you''re unlucky enough to have a curse, too. That adds an extra layer of work."


    Alex nodded but wasn''t sure how he could apply that right now. However, he had a question that he needed answered if James was such an expert on techniques. He might never get the chance to be this friendly with a member of the Military Police again.


    "So, what paths do you know?"


    "Me?" James started to move, but again, his back stopped him. "I know three, though I was working on a fourth before I dropped out of the Military Police. I know the Path of Step, the Path of Will, and the Path of Grit."


    "If you had to choose between ''will'' and ''grit,'' which would it be?" Alex asked.


    "The Path of Will," James said. "Every time. ''Grit'' took getting hit a whole lot to master, day in and day out. By comparison, ''will'' was a lot less painful. ''Will'' is also the better long-term, though it''s hard to master. It''ll let you ignore some effects of curses if you''re strong enough."


    "How?" Alex''s jaw dropped.


    "You''ve got magnetism, right?" James said, rifling through his pocket until he drew out and unfolded a small metal pocket knife. "Take this out of my hand with it."


    Alex smirked, opening his gate and embracing the electric feel that flowed through his body with his curse. He didn''t know what the old man meant, but there was no way he couldn''t just pull the knife out of his hand. He wasn''t even keeping a tight grip on it. Alex reached out a hand and pulled on the knife with his magnetism, but nothing happened. He tried again, but the knife didn''t budge.


    "The heck?" Alex couldn''t believe it.


    "Path of Will." James laughed. "Well, ''will'' in general would describe it better. Will affects aether, and curses affect aether. If your will is strong enough, you hold yourself better against someone trying to influence the aether around you."


    "You can negate curses?"


    "Parts of them," James said. "Try pushing against it."


    He stabbed toward Alex, and Alex switched his curse. He willed a ball of repulsive force into his hand as the dagger came for him, and as he would have expected, the dagger slowed to a stop as it came toward his arm. However, the blade pushed forward after a moment, cutting into the ball of repulsive force like it was only slightly hindered.


    "That''s freaky," Alex said, shaking his head. "I never knew there were these kinds of limitations."


    "You ever see the really crazy curses?" James asked. "Like someone that can manipulate the air around themselves?"


    "I''ve seen that one recently," Alex said, thinking back to Mister Foley back on Diamond Peak.


    "You ever wonder why they don''t just rip the air out of someone''s body and suffocate them?" James held up a finger. "Or how we handle the ones that can change into elemental forms?"


    Alex thought back to Dry Turtle. Miss Brooke had been a major problem, and if Wen hadn''t encountered her, he wasn''t sure that anyone on his crew could have taken her on. If there were other curses like that, he couldn''t see a way to take them down beyond something that could drain away the aether in a person.


    "We call in the heavy hitters for those," James said. "To become a commander, you need two paths mastered, and you need the Path of Will. Anything above that, you can assume that you can''t just do what you want around them with a curse."


    "That makes sense," Alex said after a moment. "I had never really thought about it before, but there have to be some limitations on curses and techniques. I just never thought you could negate them completely."


    There was a problem, though. Alex remembered another encounter on Dry Turtle: a man named Charles Bolton who had pulled his gun back from Alex''s control after saying just one word—''Reject.'' Was that a technique or a curse? He had no idea.


    "Well, it takes a lot of learning, and we''ve developed other ways to negate curses and techniques over the years. Doctor Ozymandius is always producing something new to throw at people."


    Alex grimaced but hid it as best as he could. He didn''t need to make any commentary on that particular person. Ozymandius was the reason he was the way he was now. Years of torture inside of a lab did things to a person that were best left out of any conversation.


    "So," Alex said. "How does one go about mastering the Path of Will?"


    "You sure? ''Grit'' hurts more, but it is a lot easier."


    "I''ll take both if you''ll give them," Alex said. "But we''re heading for the Twelve Kingdoms. There are a lot of strong obstacles in the way. The Path of Will might be the thing that saves us in the end."


    "Hmph." James eyed him with a sidelong glance but then shrugged. "I don''t know why I''m worrying about it. It''ll take you years to get it if you even learn it at all."


    "So, there''s no point in not telling me." Alex smirked.


    "You''re lucky you gave me a good fight, and I don''t get a feeling you''re bloodthirsty," James said. "If you were one of those madman outlaws I came across when I was still on duty, you''d get nothing from me. But you and your crew were kind, and I''ll pay that kindness back."


    Alex rolled one hand, motioning for James to continue.


    "Don''t begrudge a man his niceties," James snapped. "For that, I''ll tell you about ''grit'' first. That one''s simple enough. Focus on pushing aether into all your body at once and hold it while you get hit over and over again. Eventually, it''ll be so second nature that you''ll do it automatically. That''s all grit is. You throw a boost of aether across your body when you get into a fight without thinking about it."


    "So it''s like might, but over your entire body," Alex said.


    "Not as much as might." James wagged a finger. "Might puts a lot in a part of the body, more than what it should be able to handle. That''s why it flexes your muscles. Grit puts a smaller amount across the entire body to harden it but not overbear it. If you go too far, you won''t even be able to move."


    "Alright," Alex said, kind of getting it. "And you have someone hitting you to practice how much you need until it is second nature to you."


    "That''s right." James nodded.


    "And what''s ''will'' then, focusing aether in your head and having people yell at you while you try to concentrate?"


    "Will''s all about understanding aether flow," James said, shaking his head. "If you want to learn that, you first need to get everything quiet and just focus on manipulating the aether. Do it often enough, and you''ll start to notice the patterns in how aether flows, and your ability to control it will become more refined."


    Alex squinted at him.


    "You have to meditate on it?" he asked, thinking about monks in a temple, their arms on their knees and their legs crossed.


    "Whatever you need to focus on the flow of aether," James said. "Some people use music to focus. Some people do it best in combat. Find a way to focus on the flow and pay attention to it until it''s second nature. That''s how you start the Path of Will. Once you understand the basics, you''ll know what to do to master it."


    Alex didn''t know if he believed that, but it was a better hint than anything else he had heard before. It would at least give him something to focus on as they made their journey into the core. He picked up his wooden cup and tipped it at James in a toast.


    "Well, thanks," Alex said. "I''ve at least got a place to start now."