I focus on directing the energies that I had poured into my hand earlier, into the crystal and it lit up, glowing with a near blinding light.

  “Ok, just keep doing that, My Lady.” Lord Zellen says while putting on what looks like a pair of sunglasses.

  The crystal pulses, before glowing even brighter as icy blue and golden energy begins to crackle along its surface.

  “Shit! Cut it off!” He shrieks.

  I try to kill the flow of energy coming from my hand, but the second I try, the crystal starts pulling the energy out of me like a vacuum. I try to resist, but the more I try, the harder it pulls. I feel as if my life force is being pulled out of me, through my hand. Panic starts to rise in me, and I try to open my fingers in order to drop the crystal, but they won’t obey. I feel a sharp pain in my chest, a pain that is very familiar. A pain like what I experienced the night of my fifteenth birthday.

  A beam of blue and golden magical energy bursts from my chest, striking the focus which is now blinding to look at even when I shut my eyes. The air in the room snaps and pops with the crackling of energy coming off the crystal.

  Suddenly, there is a loud crack, and the pull from the crystal vanishes. I try to kill the flow of energy coming from my body and the focus immediately goes back to looking like a mostly normal crystal again as it falls from my now numb fingers. I collapse, my entire body feeling weak, as if I have had all of my blood drained. My breathing feels strained, as if my lungs can barely manage to pull in enough oxygen, causing me to gasp from breath. Lying on the floor next to me is the focus, residual energy still arcing along its surface for a moment before finally dying out.

  Wait, what’s that?

  I look closer and see cracks along the surface of the focus. Lord Zellen is yelling something, but I can’t quite make it out as my vision blurs, and I descend into darkness.

  ******************************************************************

  “Well, that was dramatic.” I hear a familiar voice say. “But, the results of that test were extremely interesting, to say the least.”

  Opening my eyes, I see Damian standing across from me.

  “D-Damian?”

  “The one and only.” He replies with a smile.

  “Am I asleep again?” I ask

  “Not quite. I sensed a powerful fluctuation of energy within you and came as fast as I could.” He explains. “The focus you were using malfunctioned and began feeding on your magical reserves. Much larger than expected reserves, might I add.

  “Anyway, I can’t interfere directly on a physical level, so I drew you here which cut off the flow of energy that the crystal was pulling from you by essentially moving you from the physical plane and your body to the metaphysical plane. I wasn’t planning on examining your results until this evening when I wasn’t as busy but since I got interrupted to come here and save you, I’m going to go over the results now and check the state of your soul while I’m at it.”

  He goes quiet for a minute, nodding his head periodically and at one point even made a facial expression that screamed ‘Wow, I’m impressed’.

  Suddenly he claps his hands together once, the crack of the two hands meeting echoing through the void that surrounds us.

  “Okay, this is going to take some more in-depth study, But I should have more than enough data to keep me occupied. Now, I just want to check the state of your soul and then I’ll send you on your way.”

  He walks over to me and reaches out his hand towards my chest. I flinch but don’t move to cover myself or dodge his hand, remembering how it went the last time he did this. Soon, he is standing directly in front of me, holding the orb that is my soul. Shuddering softly at the empty ache that fills my chest, I look at the crystalline orb. As before, wisps of light come off of it and flowing back into my chest, keeping me tethered to it, only now the wisps are golden and blue. The orb itself no longer appears to be clear like before, instead it is a swirl of translucent golds and blues. It still glows with the inner light like before, but now that light is blinding, not unlike the focus just minutes earlier.

  I look to Damian, and he has a thoughtful expression on his face.

  As if sensing my gaze, his sky-blue eyes meet mine.

  “What is it, Beira?” He asks, for once not answering my questions before I have a chance to voice them.

  “It l-looks different.” I say, pointing to the orb.

  “Yes.” His eyes so back to studying the orb.

  “It’s not clear like before.” I press.

  “No, it’s not.” He continues staring at the orb that is my soul.

  “Why?” I ask.

  Sighing, he looks back at me, his eyes tired.

  “Because your soul is now firmly rooted in your new reality and has finished adjusting to your body. On top of that, the tiny part of the original Beira that was left behind has grown and fully integrated with your soul. She is a part of you now, more than I expected would have been possible.”

  “Oh.” I reply

  “Don’t worry though, she shouldn’t grow anymore and you didn’t lose anything in the process, as far as I can tell. See,” he holds to orb closer to my face. “It’s bigger than it was before. The only real side effect seems to be a slight degradation of your memories as your life as Michael. They shouldn’t degrade further,” a block of wood appears from nowhere and he knocks on it with his knuckles, “but if they do, call out to me and I’ll come to take another look.”

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  He pushes the orb back into my chest and steps back.

  “Okay, that’s all for now, Beira. Time for you to go back before you worry everyone too much and your father tries to kill your instructor.”

  ******************************************************************

  I awake with a jolt, a deep breath of air filling my lungs. There are people around me yelling but they are all yelling at once and I can’t make out what any of them are saying. The focus is still lying on the ground beside me, the spiderweb of cracks still present on its surface.

  Looking up, I see Mary standing by the door, her face white as a sheet and looking like she might faint at any moment. Beside her are two of guards who I don’t recognize, both of which also look upset. All three are watching the other three people in the room, Lord Zellen who is currently suspended crucifix style by vines that have grown out of the woodwork on the walls, my father who is pointing an accusatory finger, and my mother who is standing between the two trying to calm everyone down, all three of which are yelling.

  I groan and struggle to my feet, unnoticed by anyone else in the room. My parents and Lordrin Zellen continue to shout back and forth while Mary and the guards continue to watch them. All of the noise is making my head throb and I rub my temples in a futile effort to alleviate the pain.

  “I’m okay.” I say, but nobody seems to hear me so I repeat myself louder with no luck.

  “EVERYBODY, SHUT UP!” I yell as something inside me snaps. A flash of brilliant golden light flares to punctuate my words. Stunned silence follows and all eyes whip towards me.

  “I’m okay.” I say after taking a moment to make sure I had their attention.

  “Beira?” My father asks in a quiet tone before rushing to me to embrace me.

  “I thought we had lost you again!” He says, crushing me in his massive arms as I hear a loud thump followed by a cry of pain that comes from the direction of Lord Zellen.

  “I’m f-fine, Daddy.” I say pushing him back a little so that I can breathe and look him in the eye. His eyes are red and swollen, tears glistening on his cheeks and soaking his full beard.

  “I’m fine.” I say again.

  “See Alastair,” I hear my mother’s voice comes from behind him. “I told you that she was okay, that she just looked like she had exhausted herself. Now let her go before you smother her.”

  My dad releases me and takes a step back with a nod. I can now see my mother standing behind him and slightly to the side, watching him with a weary look on her face. Her eyes turn towards me and I feel as if I’m being appraised. A groan of pain interrupts her thoughts and she turns from me back to Lord Zellen who is on the floor where my father had dropped him, his right leg bent at an unnatural angle.

  Seeing him writhing in pain, I rush past my mother to him and kneel beside him.

  “I am s-s-so s-sorry.” I apologize. “I didn’t mean to c-cause you any t-t-trouble.”

  Behind me I hear my mother order the guards to go fetch a doctor as I reach out hesitantly and place my hand on the injured man in front of me. Behind me, I hear my father shuffle up meekly. For a brief second my mind goes blank and before I know what I am doing I channel light magic through my hand, forcing the flow of energy into the groaning man. His entire form flares with brilliance and his pained sounds quiet. A second later I remove my hand from the now sleeping Lordrin Zellen that is on the floor in front of me, his leg that was obviously broken before is now straight and even the minor scratches he had from his fall are all gone. I feel lightheaded as I try to rise and end up stumbling back into the arms of my dad who catches me.

  “Beira?” My fathers asks, concern flecking his voice. “What… What was that, lass?”

  I turn to him and notice my mother is standing beside him, her appraising stare from earlier continuing, though her brows are now furrowed as if she is seeing something she doesn’t understand.

  “W-would you believe me if I said I d-don’t quite understand myself?” I reply with a question of my own.

  “Then just explain to the best of your ability, okay?” My mother adds, her face shifting to one of concern. “Since when have you had an affinity for light magic? And what about your ice affinity?”

  “The first t-time I ever used it was t-t-t-today, honest. Lord Z-Zellen n-n-noticed that my ice glowed.” I explained, cleverly avoiding and answer to my mother’s question while also providing a bit of truth on the subject.

  “Show me.” She says in reply and I look to my father who nods.

  “Aye, lass, show us.”

  I take a step back and focus on pulling all of the cold from the air around me and concentrate it on a bare spot of floor a few feet away. A two-foot-wide column of ice shoots up from the floor to the ceiling, glowing softly with an inner light.

  “See?” I say, pointing at the ice. “Lord Zellen managed to walk me through some exercises t-t-to help me get around the block I have been experiencing and when I finally s-succeeded in forming ice crystals on my hand he noticed the glow. He then had m-me run through the exercise again b-but to only focus on either the ice or the light, t-t-t-timing how fast I improved on my speed in conjuring them each time. Eventually, he wanted to t-test my reflexes when I wasn’t expecting it. That is where the hole in the w-w-wall over there came from.”

  I point to the hole I had cut into the stone earlier.

  “I just fired a beam of light at the b-ball he threw at me while bringing up a wall of ice to block it. I d-d-didn’t even mean to react that way, it j-just happened instinctually. When I healed Lord Zellen’s l-leg, t-that was instinctual as w-well. I d-d-didn’t know w-what I was doing.”

  Behind me, I hear a shuffling and I turn to see Lord Zellen standing up, a bit woozy on his feet, but standing never the less.

  “What the Lady Beira says is true, Your Graces.” He says with obvious effort. “I believed her block to her magic was psychological, so I devised some practices to see if I could figure out a workaround for Her Ladyship. The practices worked and her development of a new affinity was displayed. Your Graces, I am sure the both of you realize this is unheard of. Nobody ever has possessed two affinities naturally before, and to not only pick up her original affinity so fast, but a new one as well, your daughter, The Lady Beira, is truly remarkable. Though, I must offer a proposal, if I may.”

  My mother nods and he continues.

  “We need to hide the development of this second affinity for the time being. I can help her train it to where she has better control over it, like she could her ice. Just looking at what The Lady did to my testing focus,” he points to the cracked focus on the ground and my mother walks over and picks it up, “her potential with light is likely as high as her ice. She may never have to use chants outside of training purposes.”

  My mother stares as the crystal focus, then shifts her eyes back to me, who has been standing by nervously, trying to make myself as unseen as possible since they are talking like I’m not in the room. She hands the focus to my father who looks at it and starts laughing his deep rumbly laugh. My mother shoots him a withering look and the mirth on his face dies quickly. He clears his throat then hands the focus to its owner.

  “I agree with you, Lordrin. We must keep this development a secret for the time being until we can properly test her capabilities.” My mother concedes with a sigh. “I am trusting you to add the cultivation of this new… talent, to her regular curriculum.”

  “Of course, Your Grace. You can count on me.” He replies with a deep bow. “I trust that the training grounds will be made available due to its ability to hide things from prying eyes?”

  “All necessary resources will be made available. And you can call both Alastair and I by our given names. ‘Your Grace’ gets awfully tiring to hear, and it’s not like the three of us haven’t known each other since we were children. Please, drop the social formalities in private, Lordrin.” She says, my father nodding in agreement behind her.

  “As your wish, Your Gra-, pardon, Ilsa.” He smiles. “I will take good care of Lady Beira and keep you and Alastair apprised of her progress in both this and her ice affinity.”