Chapter 14
Diestro
After Danielle got ready and they all ate breakfast, Ferran took Paul, Danielle, and Jared back down to the underground library for their first lesson. Ferran provided them with big, pillowy chairs and laptop computers. The chairs were arranged in a circle at the center of the room.
Ferran instructed them to sit down and turn on their laptops. When Jared pushed the power button, the laptop began floating silently above his lap. Jared stared at it in amazement.
Ferran said with a chuckle, “Pretty cool, huh?”
Jared nodded, grabbed the edges of his laptop, and then pushed down lightly. It didn’t budge, so he pushed a little harder. It still didn’t move.
As he moved it around, he found that he could move the laptop toward himself, farther away, side to side, and higher up, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the laptop closer than three inches to his lap.
He let go of the laptop. I wonder if it’ll float by my waist if I stand up.
Ferran must have noticed that Jared was about to stand up because he took a step toward Jared and held out a hand. “Jared, wait. Don’t stand up. The laptop will turn off and fall to the ground unless you’re holding it when you stand up.”
Jared held up his hands. “Okay.” He leaned back into his comfortable chair, leaving his laptop floating just above his lap.
“Okay.” Ferran sat down in an overstuffed chair. “Let’s start your Diestro training.”
A picture of a cloud of Light appeared on the screen of Jared’s laptop. It looked very similar to the one he saw during the HST when his parents shut down Teruvisa. “Hey, that looks like that one Light cloud from my HST.”
Ferran said, “That’s right, and I’m going to explain what that Light cloud is. As I told you yesterday, the Founding Masters, Archemel and Terimova, made Teruvisa, but they didn’t invent Diestro.”
Danielle raised her hand but didn’t wait until she was called upon to ask her question. “If they didn’t, then who did?”
“No one.” Ferran’s tone was flat and straightforward.
How could no one create a technology? Jared looked at Ferran sideways and waited for an explanation.
Ferran leaned back into his chair, looking upward as he inhaled deeply through his nose, and then, as his focus returned to the youths, he said, “Well, you see, the Light has always existed, and Diestro, which is the technology of the Light, has too.
“The Founding Masters discovered a way to tap into that technology and create Teruvisa. And, the Light, which is a pure form of matter, provides a constant stream of energy that sustains our world.”
Solar power came to mind when Jared heard that you could get energy from the Light.
However, Ferran offered a completely different explanation of the Light—one that Jared didn’t expect at all. “Think of the Light as intelligence.”
“The Light can think?” Danielle asked.
Jared had a hard time imagining how Light could think.
Ferran shook his head. “Not exactly.”
Jared furrowed his brow. He needed clarification. “How ‘not exactly’?”
“The Light is intelligence, not intelligent.” Ferran emphasized the endings of those two words. “Let me give you an example: water. Jared, what is water?”
Jared gave the text book answer from his science class. “Hydrogen and oxygen.”
Ferran held up a finger and then pointed it at Jared’s laptop. “That’s correct.”
A picture of three atoms appeared on Jared’s laptop screen.
Ferran added, “So, if you know how to combine two hydrogen atoms with one oxygen atom, you can make a molecule of water.”
On Jared’s laptop screen, the two hydrogen atoms joined with the oxygen atom, that molecule was joined by many more water molecules, and then a picture of a drop of water appeared.
Oh. I get it. That made more sense to Jared. You can combine atoms to make molecules, which make up objects. But, that just sounds like regular old science to me.
Ferran said, “Now, let’s apply that logic to forming a new world. If you can create water or a flower from pure matter with Diestro, then why not a whole world, if you know how?” He didn’t pause long enough for anyone to respond. “Well, that’s exactly what the Founding Masters did to make Teruvisa.”
Jared nodded. “So, with this pure matter, you can make things to do whatever you want?”
“Yes.” Ferran brought his legs up under himself and sat cross-legged on his chair. “It can be made into any living organism or inanimate object. But... I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the things you make can do whatever you want.
“Diestro works within universal laws, which I will explain in later lessons. For now though, I’ll say that, although you can make a flower, you can’t make the flower think and talk like a human being.”
Jared nodded. That made sense to him.
“Now, let’s talk a little bit more about how you can begin to use Diestro,” Ferran said. “In short, you have to be given the power to unlock the Light to use Diestro.”
What about the Founding Masters? Jared wondered.
Apparently, the same thing had occurred to Danielle. “Excuse me, Ferran. But, who gave the Founding Masters the power?”
“Well, let me tell you.” Ferran smiled at her. (Ferran sure seemed to like talking about history, which was strange to Jared because he had always known Ferran as Mr. Hobson, his science teacher, and thought that would be his favorite subject.)
Ferran put his feet down on the floor and leaned forward in his chair slightly. “The Founding Masters—before they were Masters, of course—were conducting an experiment on Earth to find a better way to harness the energy of the light from the sun, and during that experiment, a blast of pure energy never experienced before on Earth strayed out of the containment field and engulfed the Founding Masters.
“In that moment they were able to see the true properties of the Light and that everything was connected by this pure matter. As a result, they were given the code, so to speak, to unlock Diestro.”
Paul asked, “So, no one gave them the power. They got it themselves. Doesn’t that contradict what you said about having to be given the power?”
Jared had also noticed the inconsistency, but he was glad that Paul had brought it up—Ferran probably wouldn’t get mad at his own son for pointing it out.
Ferran raised an eyebrow. “Really, what I said still holds true. The Light gave them the power. When the Light touched them, the Founding Masters got kevanshus.” He settled back down into his chair with an expression of satisfaction on his face, apparently thinking he had settled the matter.
Jared remembered when he got a kevanshu while he was in Central Security. Yeah, that makes sense. We got the power to use Diestro in order to be trained how to use it.
Paul, who still had a confused look on his face, asked, “But, I thought you said the Light couldn’t think.”
Yeah. That’s right. Jared had been so caught up on what Ferran said about the kevanshus giving the Founding Masters the power that he had overlooked how the Light seemed to have had a mind of its own when it, as Ferran had said, “gave them the power.”
Ferran didn’t seem to be getting impatient with Paul’s repeated questioning of him and simply stated, “It doesn’t.” His head swayed side to side a few times. “At least, not in the way we think. The conditions were right, the right people were present, and communication was established. That’s what’s most important to understand, for now.”
Communication was established? Jared asked, “They talked to it?”
Ferran shook his head. “No. It wasn’t a discussion. There are other forms of communication—non-verbal ones.” He thought for a moment as he tilted his head back and puckered his lips slightly. “I guess I should have said, ‘enlightened.’ Yes. It was more like the Founding Master minds were enlightened to comprehend what Diestro could do in the right hands—that’s what
I meant by communication.”
Jared leaned farther back in his chair and looked up. “That makes sense, I guess.” Jared raised his eyebrows. I’ll need more time to understand Diestro—that’s for sure.
“Another important fact is that soon after the Founding Masters could command the Light—manipulate it to do what they wanted—they realized they needed to keep Diestro safe and find a place to continue learning about it.” Ferran waved a finger side to side. “No place on Earth would do, though. And, that’s the main reason why the Founding Masters decided to make a new world—they had to hide Diestro to keep it safe.”
Danielle asked, “Why didn’t they want to share Diestro with everyone?” Her tone of voice almost sounded like she was accusing the Founding Masters of something.
“Well, actually they did.” Ferran looked around at the youths. “The Founding Masters had hoped to eventually teach everyone about Diestro—everyone who was interested that is. They just couldn’t do it all at once.” He held a hand out as if inviting Danielle to accept that explanation.
Danielle nodded, apparently satisfied with that answer.
“Of course, as history has shown us, Diestro might not be meant for everyone.” Ferran raised an eyebrow and tapped his temple with a finger. “That is evident in the fact that even some of those who got the power, ended up abusing it.”
Jared got the hint but didn’t want to mention Danielle’s parents specifically. “Dreggan and his followers.”
He looked out the corner of his eye at Danielle and suspected that she was thinking the same thing as he was. Her parents were evidence that Diestro wasn’t meant for everyone.
“Yep.” Ferran nodded slowly, then added, “It is a power that those who receive it must be careful with. After all, it’s the ultimate power—to control anything, to move mountains.”
Somehow, Jared knew Ferran wasn’t speaking figuratively and marveled even more about Diestro as he imagined a Master throwing a mountain on top of an invading army.
“Now, let’s talk about the devices you will be trained to use to tap into Diestro.” Ferran then asked, “So, what kind of devices have you already seen or learned about?”
Paul said, “The MSIs and the decoder.”
Jared added, “Kevanshus.”
“There’s also the treyos.” Danielle held out a hand and pointed to it like she was holding her handheld device.
Ferran held up a hand, gesturing for Jared and the others to stop answering. “Yes. Good. And, as you go through your training, you’ll find out there are many others.
“And, all the devices of Diestro help us perform tasks. However, devices are not the focus of our technology.”
“So, can we use Diestro without devices?” Danielle had posed an interesting question.
Ferran started to shake his head slowly. “Well, there haven’t been any Masters that I know of that have been able to use Diestro without using at least one device.” He put his hand to his chest, retrieved his kevanshu, and held it out. “A kevanshu. Even the Founding Masters used kevanshus.”
He reabsorbed his stone. “And, Masters nowadays do use a treyo from time to time. But other than those two exceptions, yes, you can eventually use Diestro without devices.”
Paul mentioned what Jared was also speculating about. “So, the better Master you are, the fewer devices you need to use.”
“Exactly.” Ferran seemed to beam with fatherly pride. He leaned back, clasping his fingers and putting his hands behind his head. “In fact, as you go through your training, you’ll get various devices to help you manipulate Diestro, but there’ll come a time when you’ll become practiced enough to not need any of those training devices.”
Toys. Cool. Jared got excited as he thought about getting devices. He loved gadgets and electronic devices of all kinds. He liked to take them apart to see how they worked and experiment with them to see what they were capable of.
However, Ferran was quick to add as he sat back up, “But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We have a lot to cover first. Once we get past the basics, then you’ll start practicing Diestro.”
Jared deflated slightly. “How long will that be?”
Ferran responded to Jared’s obvious disappointment. “You have to fully understand the theories and basics of Diestro before you even attempt to use the Light, or else you’ll die. It would be like throwing you at the sun. Poof—you’d be gone.”
“So... what’s the problem,” Jared said jokingly.
Everyone laughed.
After a few moments, Ferran continued the lesson. “Okay, let’s move on.”
An animated video began to play on Jared’s laptop. The animation showed the Light spreading out like a web throughout a jungle scene—a part of the jungle outside Teruvisa.
Ferran said, “As I said before, the Light connects everything, like a web. So, every tree, every rock, every particle of sand, and every element of our world is connected to the systems of Teruvisa.”
On Jared’s laptop, he watched the Light as it touched everything in the scenery pictured: the trees, the plants, a porumfid flying near the ground, and small, puffy clouds floating by above. And, as the Light touched those things, they seemed to become filled with the Light. Even Teruvisa’s mountain shield in the background started to glow with the Light.
Ferran started speaking again. “However, the connections are invisible. You won’t see a string of Light connecting everything.” Ferran paused briefly. “It’s more of a feeling.” He nodded a few times and then smiled. “And, with adequate training, you can tune into that feeling at will—like tuning into a specific radio station to listen to a certain type of music.”
Good. Seeing everything glowing all the time would be annoying. Jared was glad he didn’t have to see the Light all the time.
Danielle asked, “What does it feel like?”
Ferran thought for a moment. “Well... it can be a little different for each person, but the best ways to describe it are warmth, confidence, awareness of things around you, and clarity of thought.
“So, be aware of those feelings. Also, be aware of how the Light affects everything and vice versa. I used an analogy of a web to describe the Light for a reason. When an insect moves on part of a web, another part is affected. The same is true with the Light, except the effects are spread across not only actions but thoughts and words.”
Thoughts and words? Jared began to imagine Light shooting out of his brain and mouth every time he thought or said something. “No wonder you wouldn’t want to see the Light all the time. That’s a lot of Light,” Jared said with a smile.
“True.” Ferran chuckled.