I build a routine running at night and flying during the day until I am tired, going directly west.
I avoid flying during the night as my energy would act like a beacon, a white light moving in the middle of the night is an unnecessary risk.
Due to the little stone syphoning the energy that was around me I noticed my recovery rate getting better, where it took me a days to recover a spent mana core it took me hours.
Like a clogged drain, my body absorbed the lingering energy allowing for a better flow through my body.
After a ten days the effects were apparent.
I could stay awake for a an extra few days, along with a decrease in my appetite.
The red energy coursing through my body subsided, along with it a better control of the tendrils I could create.
And the most important thing the craving was gone completely.
I didn't realize the stress I was under to get this situation under control.
It felt like my body was always bursting with energy and while usually I could release stored energy in the form of heat mana lingered.
It lingered in my organs, my joints and even my skin.
I no longer had to deal with the constant strain of world energy entering and lingering in my body, giving me a sense of relief.
But alas it still wasn't enough for the little stone, it was unconscious often.
I found that instead of rejecting other energy like any organism does it will absorb it but it will sleep longer, making me limit the contact I made.
I would stare at it with mana vision for hours.
Observing how the energy around us get's drawn when I breathed but it absorbed most of it.
'Truly a perfect parasite' I thought finding myself admiring it.
Whenever I stepped away it would notice at once unless it was sleeping, the range was fifteen yards.
'You would love being around Isla' I think of the cocoon she makes every time she meditates.
'Isla is a good name' It said,
'It's taken already, that would just be confusing' I laughed at the thought.
I was taking my time going west, the chances of me running into the group was minimal at best, this desert was huge and it spanned over a thousand miles.
At nights during my breaks I would experiment on it until it got tired and went to sleep.
I asked it to separate and control both parts of itself which it had a hard time doing.
It went to sleep right after, turning into a puddle of silver.
A few nights later we practice mana manipulation.
The first time I saw it bending the light from it's mana was when it created a fire ball.
'Just do the same thing but slower' I said as it created a white sheet then folded it inwards trapping the air.
'I would create a two thin layers and then try and compress it slo-' I jumped back tripping and I scuttled even further.
The ball of energy went from white to violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and then finally to a black.
It was only getting darker until even the flame from the fire I made was being attracted to the black sphere.
I broke our connection instantly and thought about killing it right now.
'It would be easy I could just separate it and watch it dissipate when it can't sustain itself'.
I felt it reaching out to me like a child looking for it's parents praise.
It doesn't have a lot of energy but what it does have is so pure it could be mistaken for world energy, making more lethal than any mage I have encountered.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
'Calculated risk' I think to myself, I bury my murderous intentions deep.
'That was perfect, could you show me how you did It'?
It went like this for a month, I taught it language and share my view of the world.
It manipulated it's energy and showed me how, unluckily for me I couldn't put it into practice.
I had a body which the energy flowed out of by the time I could form it the way it does the energy would dissipate and I would need to add more.
Taking my mana core out I would use too much energy never getting the right result.
My mana core can make a huge explosion I already tried that out at the lake but I lacked energy for a few days after.
It was quite frustrating, It was one extreme or the other finding a balance eluded me.
Sitting at a fire I made before nightfall I cooked a snake, upsetting Ava greatly.
'What if a big giant came to eat you' she said pleadingly as I ate the snake meat.
"I would go to the next life hoping I was the giant" I replied smacking my lips as the crispy meal tasted like chicken.
It was weird hearing my own voice in my head and referring to it as her.
At least it wasn't my voice as Otis.
'I like Otis, Otis a happy name' she said, and I chuckled, 'no that's my name'.
'Your name is Ambrose' she corrected.
'Both of them are my name' I sighed rubbing my brow.
'Why'? It asked.
I think of my mother in the first life and how she always joked saying she thought I was going to come out as a girl.
"Me and your father had such a hard time figuring out names that we said if you where a boy he would name you after him and if you where a girl we would name you after me".
"What's your name momma"? I asked her only because her name was momma to me I never heard her being called anything else besides that or the occasional 'honey' that Otis tossed her way when he bothered to come home.
"My name is Ava baby, it means life… or it could mean bird in Latin that is."
I cover my face with my hand as old wounds that never truly healed were poked and prodded, 'Ava is a good name… you don't like Ava'? It asked.
'No, Ava is a good name' I smiled reflecting on the kind woman that raised me once upon a time.
'Good name! It's a good name! I am Ava'!