*** Trigger Warning: Graphic Descriptions ***
Aayla suddenly remembered her wild bear ride. She had never been so scared and so determined before. All of her thoughts were consciously focused on removing the bear's collar and subconsciously on survival. Then today her emotions went wild again due to frustration, anger, fear and a lack of sleep. Her negative emotions focused on the black bracelet.
Is that why the gem activated? Her strong emotions coupled with an intense focus? Aayla slumped over her desk. She finally made a break through. Thank goodness. There's less of a chance that her wrists would randomly explode now.
She looked over the black bracelet again. Aayla frowned. The interior lighting in this room wasn't very good, but if she left the curtains open then sometimes people will peak. There's no choice but to put up with the nosy residents for now. Aayla walked over to a window and opened the curtains. Fresh sunlight poured into the room. She carefully examined the black bracelet under the better lighting.
The whole bracelet seemed to be slightly shinier and the black color was deeper. A tiny line of text appeared on the inner side of the bracelet. Aayla could only make out a couple of the words. One of them in particular seemed to be scratched out on purpose.
-- For My Be..ov.. ..ude.. …. New Moon Bracelet --
So, the black bangle was called the New Moon Bracelet. That's quite the daring name. On Tellus, the major religion is called Celestism. There are three main deities, or Celestials, of Celestism. Helios, the God of Order, Light and Justice, was the most powerful and revered. Cynthia, the Goddess of the Martial Way and Emotions, was tied for second place alongside Selene, the Goddess of Magic and Intelligence. While Tellus' star was called Helios for the chief deity, the twin moons were named after the goddesses. Goddess Selene was the patron of the purple moon Selene, and was nicknamed the New Moon Goddess as she appeared when her moon was dark in legends.
As the patron goddess of wizards and Chinebar itself, to use Her common name for an ordinary artifact would be blasphemy of the highest degree. Only the most extraordinary artifacts could have a direct mention of Her in their names. Fortunately, the crazy idiot who created the artifact only used Her common name as inspiration, and not Her true name.
Chinebar is fairly agnostic, but they still hold a strong regard for the New Moon Goddess. Many would start causing all sorts of trouble for Aayla if they found out what the bracelet is named. A simple, malfunctioning artifact is not worthy to be named after the goddess. Aayla definitely doesn't need that kind of attention right now.
Aayla continued to investigate the New Moon Bracelet with glee. There doesn't appear to be a lot of charge but maybe she can still do something with it. Just this tiny bit of hope brightened her day immeasurably. A sudden knock on the door dragged Aayla out of her thoughts.
"Miss Glowery! It's me, Jack. The ladies from room W-325 are reporting a leaking ceiling. Looks like the residents from room W-425 were running experiments again. Oh, and there's smoke on the second floor of the men's wing for the third time this week but I can't find Daren or Chris."
"Thanks! Just give me a minute then I'll be right out."
Where were those boys when you needed them?! Aayla quickly picked up her notes and her books and stuffed them into her bag. She can leave them drop them off in her room on her way to check room W-425 later. Before leaving, Aayla made sure that she had picked up everything.
Despite the latest issues, Aayla spent the rest of the day in a good mood. The possibility of magic really helped to lift some of the pressure off of her shoulders. Dormi would handle the cleanup and temporary punishments anyways. All Aayla had to do was write the reports, which gave her an excellent excuse to visit Ramona. Hehe. Aayla was so pleased that she let the girls of room W-425 off with a short 5-minute lecture instead of her usual 15 minutes. The young man who almost set his room on fire was also given a short lecture. It was only his first offense, and Aayla was already in a good mood.
Unknown to her, the residents were spooked by the shortened lecture. The Aayla that they knew only lengthened her nagging, and never shortened it. The worst was assumed for the residents of W-425, since they had already flooded their room in two other occasions. By the time that their official punishment was issued several days later, the young ladies had worried themselves sick. The harsh punishment seemed light compared to their imagination. Of course, this was none of Aayla's concern.
Anyways, Aayla quickly wrote up the reports and ran to campus. She finally tracked Ramona down to her office in the monstrosity known as the Central Administration Building. Aayla quietly slipped inside the office after knocking.
"Good afternoon, Deputy Heston. I've brought a couple of reports for some urgent disciplinary issues."
"Alright. Come in and have a seat while I take a look. Close the door behind you."
As soon as the door was shut, Ramona muttered under her breath. The walls, ceiling and floor seemed to be covered in a strange glimmer as if they were under shallow water.
"We should be able to talk privately. Looks like you've made some progress with the black bracelet. I can feel the increase in mana."
Aayla nodded and quickly recounted that afternoon's incident. Ramona blinked in surprise when she heard the bracelet's name. Someone had actually dared to name an insignificant artifact after the New Moon Goddess. Even in history there were extremely few records of any artifacts sharing Her common name, and all of them could change the fates of nations.
Ramona carefully examined the New Moon Bracelet. However, she still failed to retrieve much more information than the last time she checked the bracelet.
"Hmm… It's not even one hundredth full. But just that little amount is impossible for you to gather. Perhaps… Could you try something for me? Do you think you can repeat what you did earlier this afternoon?"
"Uh, I think so. I've still got a lot of pent-up stress from idiots and sleep deprivation but I'm still exhausted from this afternoon."
"That's fine. I have a theory that I want to test. I think that your body is adapted for an energy that's similar yet different from magical energy. Otherwise, you might have already gotten sick. Your way past the best age of initial magical development, but we might be able to improve your body's natural affinity for mana so you can use artifacts. I'll help you out for this."
Aayla glared at the bracelet and thought of all the annoying incidents that various idiots caused around the dormitory. All of the paperwork and sleepless nights. While Aayla focused, Ramona placed her hands on Aayla's back.
"I'm going to guide a bit of mana through your body to simulate natural mana absorption. Focus only on your breathing, emotions and the bracelet. You might feel a tingling sensation."
The mana in the room slowly gathered around the pair. Aayla's teeth nearly cracked from clenching them when mana began flowing through her body. Even the slightest bit initially felt like fire ants crawling through her body. No, Aayla would rather stick her arm completely into a fire ant nest than go through her current experience again.
Her breaths were choppy but stable. Aayla could only focus on breathing for several minutes. The pain slowly subsided as the flow of mana became smoother through her body. It naturally flowed throughout her arteries and veins in tiny threads.
"Aayla, I need to you focus your emotions again. Focus only on your emotions and the bracelet."
With a pale face, Aayla recalled her fear and desperation in Forest Waypoint. She thought of the bloody smell, the cool touch of the bear's collar and the furious roars. The mana flowing through her body excitedly churned like river rapids. The New Moon Bracelet greedily sucked up all of the mana that passed by it. Aayla's face went from paper white to chalk white. She felt like a thread that was intertwined in her body was being pulled out. Then the mana was cut off.
The strange sensation and horrible tingling stopped. Aayla gasped and panted. Even with Ramona's help she was exhausted. Aayla slumped back in her chair.
"How do you feel?"
"Do you seriously need to ask me that? Holy heck, that was horrendous. How can you stand using magic?"
Ramona awkwardly chuckled.
"Well, Tellan mana pathways are much more developed. Unfortunately, mana will be inefficient for you. Your body simply isn't built for it. I felt a similar yet different energy when I was on Terra instead of magical energy. Terrans use that energy instead, but it's not as pliable as mana so you never developed energy pathways like we have.
Not to mention that the bracelet is a greedy artifact. I had to cut off its mana absorption before it picked up too much momentum. The good news is that you can now use magic."