Chapter 49: Projection Training

For the next six months, we pushed ourselves as hard as we could, and just when one of us would want to throw in the towel, the rest would get him back in the game. At the end of it, I was on equal footing with the guys, or so I hoped. Kami wished them adieu and told them to head off on their own to train without the guidance or gear. I, however, remained behind to work on my astral projection, hoping to get some training by some of the best in other dimensions. First, I felt it was probably a smart idea to contact someone who knew about it. After a while of racking my brain, I focused on someone who had to know about it, and closed my eyes as I had before.

I appeared in a large apartment, surrounded by books. On a couch at the far end of the room sat a beautiful red-haired woman, who was reading from a rather old book while sipping on a glass of red wine. She didn’t seem to notice me at first. I cleared my throat, and she looked up.

“Now, how did you get in here?” She asked in a thick Scottish accent as she stood up.

She set her book and wine on her coffee table and walked over to me.

“I sort of appeared.” I said.

“Well, you’re no angel, and no demon. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gotten in here.” She said. “So what are you?”

“Um, an interdimensional traveler who’s astral projecting from another dimension to ask you about the subject of Astral projection. I want to get better at it so that I can train with others.” I said.

“And you came to little old me?” She asked.

“You’re the most powerful witch I could think of, and figured you’d know about the subject, Ma’am.” I said.

“Now why would you say that?” Rowena asked.

“Rowena MacLeod, strongest witch in existence in her dimension. And if I’m guessing the timing right, the future ruler of hell itself.” I said.

“Oh, so you know me? What am I in yours if you can’t just ask me there?” She asked.

“A character in a tv show in my home dimension.” I said. “That’s how I know about you.”

“Oh, I see.” She said. “Well, I can’t tell you much about the astral projection subject that you don’t seem to know already.” She pointed out.

“I want to be able to interact with objects.” I said. “I can astral project just fine, but interacting takes a level of concentration that I’m not used to yet.”

“Ah, material astral projection. In this dimension, it’s a very powerful spell.” Rowena explained. “I’m guessing it’s not the same where you are.”

“Might be, but I’m not using magic to do it. I’m linked through the dimensions somehow, and I’m using that link to do the projection.” I explained.

“Well, what I can tell you then is that you just need to practice, my boy.” Rowena said.

“Just practice?” I asked.

“Yes, dear sweet thing.” She said. “Now, I must get back to my book. I get precious little time for reading these days.”

“Thank you.” I said.

“It’s not a problem, dear.” Rowena said as she turned and walked away.

I pulled myself back out of my astral projection and looked for how much time I had been in. It seemed like it was about the same time frame in both places.

“Ah, Joshua, still training?” Mr. Popo asked as he approached me.

“Yes, sir.” I said.

“I know you’ll work hard. Just do your best.” Mr. Popo said.

“Thank you very much. I will.” I said.

I got up from my seated position and began walking about on the lookout. I made my way to the bedroom that had been setup for me. I took a seat on my bed and closed my eyes, projecting again, this time back to Gwen. When I appeared it seemed to be the early afternoon. Gwen was sitting at a desk doing her work, and seemed to be at school. No one was around, so I walked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder.

“Hey Gwen.” I said softly.

She looked at me and practically jumped out of her seat. As she went to hug me, I made sure I was concentrating.