It wasn’t exactly the answer I expected, but if i had no problem playing with potentially dangerous powers, then I wasn’t going to waste ti worrying about it, at least not right now. Besides, I still wasn’t even sure if she’d end up being able to actually make herself explode.
“You showed your abilities again,” i muttered, voice low. “Even went so far as to tell they can hurt you…”
I glanced down at her. She was fiddling with a loose petal between her fingers, gaze distant. I waited, letting her finish in her own ti.
“You’re not very smart, are you?”
“I’m a genius,” I replied without hesitation. Not like I’d handed her everything on a silver platter. It was just a couple quick demonstrations. A little taste of how my energy worked. The basic feel of it. How it builds. That’s it. And…
“I’m definitely smart,” I added with a nod. “You’re just not at an age where you can recognize brilliance when you see it.”
She let out a dry chuckle and shoved my shoulder with a surprising amount of force. “I’m plenty mature enough to know you’re way too trusting. Now I just feel bad.”
I raised an eyebrow, tilting my head. “Well, if you really feel bad, there’s a simple solution: show what you can do. Then we’re even.”
“You’re not serious.”
“We could even spar a little,” I offered, already rising to my feet, limbs itching for movent.
i glanced around as if expecting soone to leap out and stop us, but of course, it was just the three of us. No authorities, no instructors.
“I—I don’t think we’re allowed to,” she said uncertainly, eyes still darting to invisible overseers.
I had already walked a few paces away, rolling my neck in slow circles, stretching out the stiffness. “Says who? The Guardians? Have they ever said anything about that? I’ve already fought another champion. And besides, it’s just a friendly—”
“No one’s been dumb enough to ask,” she called after , her voice more unsure than defiant.
It was a fair point. She was the youngest champion in history, or so her ancestor claid. I doubted she knew all the rules, but the restrictions seed to target the organizers more than the fighters themselves...
You’re pushing it, Wyrem warned from within, his voice a flicker in the back of my mind. Just ask her to show you sothing. Exchanging like this is a bad idea. Even the kid knows it.
I grumbled sothing from my throat, not realizing how much I really wanted to move around. How much I’d started getting used to the rhythm of cultivation, sitting mindlessly, followed by an imdiate bout for conversion.
“Peter…” i’s voice ca softer this ti. She was still glancing around nervously, uncertain.
You’re older than her. That gives you authority, Wyrem added, more pointed now. Don’t abuse it.
Aaand… He was right. Not just about the moral side of it, but the social dynamic. i was clearly starting to just go with what I said. Been around too many crazy people that I forgot. Even Lacy and Macy would occasionally listen to when I got serious.
“I’m only joking. Relax, i,” I said with an easy smile, trying to soften the tension. Of course, I kept stretching anyway which was probably not the best way to sell my lie. When I finished, she was still across the garden, watching bounce on my toes with sothing between skepticism and exhaustion.
“So, anything you want to show ?” I asked, shifting my voice into sothing gentler. Less a challenge, more a curiosity.
She blinked at from the other side, then let out a long sigh. Her shoulders sagged, the weight finally lifting. For a second, she just stood there, then raised her voice so I could hear her clearly.
“I can explain the kind of powers Animora can be used for,” she offered. “Later… I’ll show you everything I can do. Promise.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course she would. So would I. We would battle soon. No way that she felt even a little bad about revealing to her my elental attributes.
“Alright, then show how to Extract, okay?”
She broke into a light jog toward , leaving behind faint streaks of colorful light that trailed like ribbons. “I really thought you were going to get us in trouble,” she said, half-laughing, half-scolding.
I shrugged. “I was going to, but you looked so nervous. I’m not a complete monster.”
She gave a quick shake of her head, amusent still tugging at her mouth. “No, but you’re definitely not completely human.” The comnt ca with a small, dry laugh.
“Anyway,” she went on, slipping easily back into lecture mode. “Most people develop no innate abilities. That’s why they rely on augnts or devices that tap into skills from our systems.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I hadn’t known that last part, but I let her keep going.
“But the abilities Animora unlocks can manifest in different ways. Usually—though not always—they’re connected to whatever it is the person Extracts.”
A mory surfaced uninvited: a tiny creature with red-tinged black scales and a sturdy shell the color of dusk-blue. It clung to my girlfriend like a second skin, using a large snake as a mount.
“Wait… does that an Synthia’s going to get flower powers?”
“Wha—You… Flower powers?” i stared at like I’d just grown an extra head. The words clearly derailed her train of thought, but I wasn’t kidding. It made sense. Absorb a flower, gain so kind of… floral quality, right?
I knew from experience how much influence a flower could hold.
Still, her shoulders began to shake, a tiny smirk forming on her lips. One second. Then another. Then she broke completely, laughing so hard she nearly choked.
“No!” she shouted through bursts of uncontrollable giggles. “She won’t get flower powers!”
There was a strange urge in then, to just grab her and launch us into the sky. Not far. Just enough to scare her into silence. When was the last ti I’d jumped using everything? Not just muscle, but Force?
Bet she’d stop laughing then.
“N-not unless—” she gasped, wiping her eyes, “she absorbs the entire field, and then several more!”
I resisted the urge. Barely, so we stayed on the ground.
“You done?” I asked once the giggles started to fade.
She took a few deep, calming breaths before finally nodding. “No plant powers from a single flower. And even if you Extracted Animora from thousands of the sa one, there’s still no guarantee.”
“Well then?” I prodded, curious. “What’s an example of powers you can get?”
“For things like that?” She tapped a thoughtful finger to her chin. “Records show that the powers reflect the nature of the thing being taken. Like, a glowing plant might give you the ability to produce light.”
“Human light bulb,” I muttered. “Sounds... efficient.”
“Or,” she said with a smirk, “you could just use an actual light bulb.”
I grinned, unoffended. “Fair.”
“But say you extract from sothing dicinal like a healing herb, there’s a chance the ability you develop has so restorative aspect. Healing, regeneration… stuff like that.”
That information was interesting. Much of what Elric and Lyra could do was still a total mystery in relation to their healing abilities, but it was still possible using Natural Force.
And, not that I’ve tried, but the fact that Thea or Griffith haven’t suddenly developed the power to grind my bones back into place, I doubted it was possible to imitate them.
Even Elric couldn’t mimic Lyra’s unique abilities. No one could.
Maybe there was sothing else at play. A different energy, dormant but present, enhancing what they already had. Could this be it?
“Animora exists in all living things, right?” I asked, needing confirmation.
i nodded. “So non-living things too. Like rocks. Rare, but it happens.”
There was reason to be excited, but I kept it in check. This wasn’t a breakthrough yet. Nothing was confird, and ultimately, unlike the fragile hope of helping Lyra, this could only serve as a stepping stone. At best, it might help illuminate the nature of whatever elent, or unknown resource, enabled healing magic in the first place.
“Alright. Co on, i,” I teased lightly, giving her a sideways grin. “You could give just a little taste of what you can do, couldn’t you? Unless… you can’t manifest Animora without your bracelet.”
“I can,” she growled, quiet but fierce.
“Well?” I prompted again, playful but persistent.
“I said no earlier,” she snapped back, arms folding stubbornly across her chest.
Yeah, i was nothing if not determined. I lifted my hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. I get it. I’ll stop asking.” A pause, then a new angle. “How about with animals, then?”
The resistance didn’t vanish imdiately, but I saw her guard begin to soften. She shifted her gaze away from , looking instead toward Synthia.
“So people have been recorded adopting animal traits,” she admitted. “But it’s rare. Very rare.”
I nudged her arm gently, letting the question drop for now. Study and patience would yield more than prying, anyway.
“Can Master i please grace with her instruction?” I said with exaggerated formality.
She humd, pretending to weigh the request. “Mmmm… alright. But you have to sit too. We’ve got less than an hour, and if I get a call—expect an interruption.”
“Deal.” I dropped down into a sitting position beside her without complaint.
She held out a freshly plucked glow-flower, its light a gentle pulse of amber-gold in the shade. Luna muttered sothing sarcastic in my mind about us nearing botanical genocide.
“Sa as before,” i said, her tone calm and focused.
I took the flower, gripping the stem loosely between my fingers. This ti, I noticed sothing I’d missed while watching her with Synthia. A subtle connection. A rhythm not visible to the eye, but sohow felt. The pulse generated through her help I'm sure. The Animora.
Still, just before the mantra began, I glanced at her once more. “You can inject your power into other things?” I asked, curious.
i jangled her wrist, letting her bracer catch the light. “Injector is the na I ca up with.”
I closed my eyes.
I closed my eyes. The sa words echoed through my ears that she had told Synthia. Soft, thodical, and steady. Calming my thoughts into a ditative state wasn’t unfamiliar. What mattered here was distinction. The separation. Feeling the Force that ran through this living plant and identifying the other essence layered beneath it.
I activated Precursor Sense.
And I felt it.
A pulse of red.
Cool and invigorating against my fingertips, like chilled wind beneath warm skin.
In that mont, I understood sothing Elric and I had gotten wrong. Profoundly wrong. Because this felt different. Was different.
Not just circulation, not just technique.
The reason Elric’s combat style countered mine so well wasn’t just his clever manipulation of the air—or maybe that was part of it, but not the core of it. His hidden strength had bled into that technique, warped it subtly, and led us to a flawed conclusion.
It wasn’t just Force.
It was this.
The feeling beating from the plant. Another from . From deep within.
Animora.
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