Lyi's smile faded as she wrought up her Aura. The pinkish-grey wind rolled off her like gentle waves, gathering on the floor in a small mist. There was a clear border around 80cm out from her body where the wind stopped roiling, but the trained eye of Roch could see that border was shaky at best. It fluctuated constantly: 72cm, 85cm, 77cm, 80cm, 82cm... it never settled for a moment.
His face scrunched up, waving his hand to tell Lyi to draw her Aura back in. He already knew that this situation would occur, but for it to be so extreme... forget the estimation of her progression taking 4 or 5 days, this had been done in just a day or two. What's more, that pinkish colour it had certainly wasn't normal, not for an Apprentice atleast. Everyone's Aura had its own colour, but not until they broke their first Seal...
"Lass, you'll need'ta take a break from all the magicking that you've been doin'. I mean it, aye. Your body, it ain't strong enough to handle all that dangerousness you're brewin' in there. That
With a light 'Oh!', Lyi dragged her Aura back into her body, her head aching slightly. Roch had managed to figure out so much from just looking at her... and she could tell he was right. She could already feel herself getting dizzy whenever she moved her Aura. Shaking her head, she followed Roch down the spiraling staircase of the tower. There were four rooms on the way down, of which she could only see into two: some kind of record-keeping area, and a large auditorium that seemed to barely fit into the tower. Two metal doors barred entry into the other two rooms, nor allowed any insight into what they were.
As they approached the bottom of the stairwell, Lyi couldn't help but raise her arm to cover her eyes. The light from the star above seemed to shine even brighter in the grand courtyard they had just walked into, strong winds sweeping through the area without end. Rather faintly she could see a few Anshorans engaged in some kind of duel, though they seemed to often be impeded by the wind.
Though they paled in comparison to the tower that the two had just exited, three pillars stuck out from the walls. Small yellow crystals adorned their sides with faint glows emitting in a spiral-like pattern. With every spiral that rose up the towers, the wind shifted in direction to face them; though which tower completed its revolution first was seemingly completely random.
Compared to the dry and drab plateau Hope had kept her contained in, this seemed like some kind of wonderland. Even though the winds were strong, they never seemed to drag her off her feet, making for a strangely nice feeling. Further still, the winds felt nothing like the biting cold of the mountains; the only thing she could even compare them to was the flame that Hope had summoned without any of the pain.
As she stood in stunned silence, Roch had already dismissed the other people utilising the windy courtyard. He sent glances over to Lyi every now and again as he walked through the field, unslotting a larger yellow stone from the base of each of the three towers. With every stone removed the wind calmed, until it stopped entirely. Snapped out of her trance and shaking her head, Lyi wandered the field until she found herself following the man once more.
She couldn't quite figure out what he was doing, though she could see Wind particles in the air settling on the ground around each of the towers. Even still, some of those particles trailed after Roch like lost children, seemingly without any effort from his part. He seemed so tranquil... much unlike how he seemed to present himself earlier. Even his steps seemed quieter.
Without any warning Roch stopped moving, the particles following him dissipating into the air. His hand raised and with it followed the wind, a tiny rock caught in its flow. He caught it and tossed it to Lyi, who only barely caught it. To her, the rock was totally nondescript, though Roch was looking at it with an almost loving eye. The man seemed to hesitate a moment, before he spoke:
"You keep that somewhere safe now, alright lass? I'll teach you how to use it once I think you're ready. Now lass, as much as your kind is gifted in the magical side o' life, the physical side is where you all fall short. Least, that's what we've figured from the Wing. Its important that you keep in mind you'll outpace your body's capability. Aye, we need to fix your... scrawny build, putting it nicely. Can't do that normally, seeing as you're a 'Magical' creature. Luckily for us, the Wing let us study her enough to figure how to build you Espi up."
Without letting Lyi speak, she found Roch already up in her face, a sharp and harsh feeling spreading through her chest. Pain, like that she had felt from the spell that the Arch-custodian had fired upon her earlier in the day. Roch's Aura skyrocketed, winds billowing and catching on her wings as she was sent flying through the air by his fist. With nary a moment to think, Roch disappeared from her vision, a cracking noise ringing out as the man's fist collided with the back of her wing.
Instinctively, she rose her own Aura and applied the effects of both {Shield} and {Reinforce} to herself. She had to ignore the pain, distracting as it was. Roch's fist once more appeared in her vision, just an inch away from her face, the man clicking his tongue as the effects of {Shield} rebounded his punch. She heard a crack as the yellow Aura of Roch erupted to even further heights and she found herself on the ground.
She no longer felt {Shield} around her, its uncomfortable weight instead shifted into a rising dull pain in her cheek. Before she could even think about pushing herself back up, she was in the air, that same pain bursting in her chest. With one final strike from Roch, she was once again acquainted with the ground and her back felt like it had been soaked in her own blood. Having no energy to let out anything but a groan, Lyi couldn't stop herself from shaking at all. How was this supposed to help her at all? If anything it only made her feel worse!
As soon as she thought that, she felt a horrendously cold feeling from her back as a rush of magic surged into her wound. She didn't understand how, but she could feel the intangible concept of magic floating inside her body and even further than that: she could move it. Four spots practically begged for that magic to approach it - her four cores, those of Wing, Soul, Mind and Heart.
One called out with far greater fervor than the others: the core of Heart. Directing the flow towards that core, she felt the pain in her body start to fade slightly. Though the wound wasn't closing, the consistent flow of magic making that obvious, she could certainly feel herself becoming more resilient. Too resilient, infact, as her body started to automatically reject the stream of magic entering it.
She felt like something had changed within her Heart core, especially considering she could feel it even without that flow inside her. It felt like it had reached its limit, no amount of extra magic could make it stronger. The pain had completely faded from her body by this point, some kind of surge of energy letting her ignore the feeling. Not like she could move either way. Though, she could certainly hear Roch speaking:
"Sorry lass, there's no other way to let you experience that feeling. Your kind likes to eat magic, y'see. You don't know how to do it until you've been forced, though."
She didn't even attempt to muster a response, the hard stone under her feeling more like a friend than Roch at the moment. He could have atleast told her that he was going to attack her. Strangely, she could feel her strength slowly returning to her. That previously still and unnoticeable core was occasionally pumping magic through her system, of its own creation no less. It felt like something she wouldn't have to maintain in the slightest, like it had somehow been switched on.
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She felt warm, comfortable even. Her hand laid infront of her had even gained the faintest golden hue, unlike the sheer white it had been before. Was that... her blood spreading through her body? No... rather it was a surge in the sheer amount she had. It was already there, that much was clear from her wounds being able to spill some. She could even feel the surprisingly minute amount outside her body - the warmth covering her back had only come from a scant few droplets.
The strangest part? The magic particles in the air were trying to cover her wounds, even the ones she could barely perceive. She could just barely see from where she was laid the golden light surrounding the bandage on her wing, the extreme discomfort she felt in it fading by the moment. She even felt like she could pull herself up from the ground now... and a marked difference in the amount of strength she had. It was wonderful, a feeling she couldn't even describe.
Pushing herself up from the ground, even the stagnant air around her felt like it moved far easier. She couldn't help but look down at her own arms, which had traces of pale gold shooting through them rhythmically. Her hands shared that pale gold hue, the colour rising up her arms like it was filling some sort of container. She felt so alive. Her gaze constantly shifted between the smiling Roch and her own arms, though a thought rose in her. Hope never had a pale gold hue in her skin like this… it couldn’t be that she didn’t have a working Heart core?
If this was true… she had a marked advantage now. Hope was strong, overwhelming so, but if she could keep enhancing her Heart core like this, she’d certainly be able to beat her eventually… right? But slowly, the elation faded from her mind. If Roch knew how to activate her Heart core, then Hope certainly knew how to aswell. She was the only other Espi around besides Lyi, afterall.
Roch couldn’t help but chuckle lightly as Lyi let out an exasperated sigh. Thinking back, Hope’s spells wouldn’t care if she had a strong body. Anshorans may be fragile, but that same spell which took chunks out of Mizem's apprentice mages would do just the same to her. There was no point getting ahead of herself, the time would come where she would be able to face her in a direct confrontation.
Still... even the world around her felt more colourful thanks to this feeling. She looked towards the sky, that icy blue sheen seeming so much more beautiful than ever before. Looking towards Roch, the dancing Wind particles around him seemed ever more playful, their yellow light even more clear against the grey of the courtyard walls. She couldn't help herself from cracking a smile.
Emotion flared up inside her. She had to get back at Roch for beating her without warning now, didn't she? Cracking her fists, a light smirk on her face, her Aura flared up to its absolute maximum. Roch's Aura had already raised to match her, she could tell, but right now that didn't matter to her. If he could break her {Shield}, then she could break whatever defense he shored up!
The field warped around her eyes as Roch's surprised face approached, her movement markedly faster than ever before. No time to think, she raised a fist to strike Roch - rebounded by a {Shield} just as she had expected. He didn't just stand around either, Roch threw counterblows; but she could see them now. They were still too fast for her to properly react to, but she could see them.
Her smirk widened even more. The pain from her {Shield} crashing in on itself and being launched by Roch was practically non-existent, ambient magic wrapping around the wound with its shining golden light. Dragging her hands along the ground to stop her movement, she pivoted to face back to Roch and launched herself forward again, the sound of a 'Click!' following after her as she spoke the words to summon up a {Clickrend}.
The Force particles around her moved faster than she ever could, a tiny crack appearing in the air around Roch. Focusing all her attention on it, she swung her fist...
And was rebounded, her smirk completely wiped off her face. Roch slammed her into the ground via a swift counterattack, a hearty laugh resounding from above her,
"Good try, lil' lass! The Wing didn't lie even back then, that Heart core of yours really put a pep in your step! Come on, get up, lets go another round, promise I'll let you get a hit in this time."
Shaking her head and wiping her surprised expression from her face, Lyi twisted her body in a sweep. Roch, naturally, easily avoided it, the magic around him pouring into the crack in his {Shield} and repairing it in but a moment. But with the sound of three clicks and an elated shout from Lyi, his {Shield} was completely burst by {Clickrend}s. Roch flew off into the distance in her eyes as she got up, golden particles of Lightning flowing down from on high and forging sparks out of her Intrinsic Aura.
Even if {Encharge}, the spell she was summoning, was only stated to be defensive, she thought differently. The pumping Heart core filled her with ideas, and the heat of a battle was only serving to enhance it. Layering another {Encharge} on the original, the sparks almost completely overtook the wind that her Aura presented itself as.
Roch's eyes widened as the Espi started cackling, the sparks around her piercing into her body as she clasped her hands tight. She finally managed to activate the spell {Rapid}, and her Aura surged outwards to 90cm in length. Its stability held - the Heart core playing a major part by denying any of the magic around her from escaping her grasp. Her hair stood on ends, even her immovable wings having their feathers sharpened.
Without so much as a second thought, she clasped her hands again, another layer of sparks entering her. Golden blood poured from her mouth, but she could feel no pain. Her Intrinsic Aura started to shrink at a rate noticeable to the eye, but Roch couldn't tell - a hand had already grasped his face. The sparks pouring from it burnt, though nothing hurt more than the feeling of the floor against his back.
He hadn't even had the time to react as the electrically charged Espi stood above him, the serene waves of wind that used to be her Aura having completely been replaced by spikes of sparks. It reminded him of what happened when the Wing first activated her Heart core... the same scene, but with far more elements than lightning. He had to stop this before it went too far.
Lyi's vision filled with the yellow Wind particles that playfully danced around Roch before, but this felt different. Taking a step, she found herself on the opposite side of the courtyard, watching as Roch burst a Seal and raised his Aura to its absolute limit. By the time a second Seal had formed, it almost reached her, covering the size of the field. Even then, the Seal was shaky at best... like a dam ready to burst.
A click of the tongue resounded through the field as Roch rose from the ground, his sharp gaze shifting to look at Lyi. His skin had turned almost red, an anger she hadn't seen in the man presenting itself more clearly than anything she had seen in her short life. It wasn't directed towards her... the sharp winds around him were pointed like a blade at himself. She was too concentrated on that to keep her own spells running, the lightning in her Aura fading until she returned to her normal state.
Roch was too busy casting to notice, however. Holding his left palm out and slicing his right across it like a blade, his shout of 'Sqa Tol'ui Umni!' forced Lyi to cover her ears as a massive blade of Wind particles formed above Roch. Lifting his right hand to mimic the blade, he swung it downward. As soon as it was about to hit Lyi...
It stopped, barely slicing a single hair from her head. The {Shield} she had wrought up to protect herself against it had done less than nothing, as she watched the Force particles dissipate into the air. The blade of Wind burst apart, the sound completely knocking Lyi out. The heaviest sigh of relief Roch had ever mustered left him, his Aura worming its way back into his body.
Without delay, the Arch-Custodian landed from the air besides Roch. The stocky man's eyes were just as wide as Roch's, though that didn't stop him from shoving a sharp jab into Roch's side.
"Au-ow! What's that for, you bleedin' rock? How was I supposed to know she'd be able t' layer spells?"
"The Wing can, why wouldn't she be able to?"
"Fuckin'... I don't know! Because she's a child?"
"A Beast like her, born for combat, it doesn't matter her age. Expect the worst, especially when they're at their best. You know this. You can drop the accent already, aswell. I know you’re not that pissed at Gezo’s death."
Roch's pale skin took a faint red hue, though it faded as swiftly as it came. Even he knew not to bite back at the Arch-Custodian. Slowly, pain faded in to his face, a sharp one. Remnants from the sparks of {Encharge}. Rubbing at his face, Roch looked back at the silent Espi,
"Still, Juni, we're lucky we know what happens. Certainly gave her a personality, aye."
"Just... just test the controlled activation theory. Her not trying to kill you shows promise. Don’t forget to drop the accent!"
Without giving Roch a chance to reply, Juni shot back into the sky, towards the centre of Poenticivt. Stroking his feathered coat, Roch looked towards the drained Espi. Those wings of hers... maybe they could finally be a good omen for the people. He just had to succeed this time. Repeating the past... he couldn't let another Espi down.