When we returned to the village, we head counted ten people, Mai, her father, her three brothers, myself, Manny, Qui, Sammi, Kalen, and Eqihr. All of us made up the new village, but only for a brief moment. I still had a promise to keep with Mai's father.
One week later,
The past week, we have been gaining intel on the surrounding land. It turns out that the scaled swords didn't combine weapons yet and there is a bounty on the YinYang spirit's heads. Eqihr and Manny left us to find more help. They've been gone for one week. In between this time and now, my destructive prowess has not come, but I am still trying to figure it out. But right now I am training with Mai and her brothers.
Xain, her youngest brother, could expand his aura in dangerous ways, meaning he could suffocate you in it if he wanted to. Her second youngest brother could clone weapons. They say he got the cloning from their father, who could not only clone himself but his weapons too. The oldest brother could use sonokenisis. This was the ability to manipulate sound. He could take sound from you, give you sound, change soundwaves, and even make high and low waves visible.
Mai hadn't displayed her ability yet, but her brothers say it's something quite extraordinary. This gave me a rush and set high hopes.
Mai and I were training as a two-man team while her brothers spectated our session. Mai stood there in an unphased manner. I assumed that she wanted me to charge at her. I dashed near her and she leaped backward then drove her hand to the ground. When she removed her hand, my body was forced to the ground and I was on my hands and knees. I looked closely and thin heavy roots were forcing me to the ground.
The roots were leading up to her wrist and that's when I found out her ability, earth manipulation. She tugged on the root and pulled herself toward me and kicked me away. As I was air-born, she snagged back on it and pulled me towards her, and spin kicked me into the ground. Her roots left my arms and legs and returned to her palm. "Your turn." She said as she walked away from me.
I stood up as my body began to heal. Her ability was earth manipulation, so I couldn't stay in place when I fought her. My only option is to use my martial arts combined with natural force. After closing my fist, I punched the air at her and filled the vibrations with lightning. Realization hit me. I could use my catastrophic powers. I thought back to when I was fighting with Manny and remembered that I was in a rush, so that activated my power.
I closed my fist and struck the ground, making the ground crack. After the crack opened, a strong wind knocked everyone backward, including me. As I was leaning against the tree, I looked at my fist and started laughing out of exhilaration. Mai and her brothers were cheering me on and I punched upward. The air quit vibrating and I walked to them then told them how excited I was. My body was almost drained of energy and I needed to rest for a bit.
I opened a portal and took us back to the village. When we got back, Manny and Eqihr were finally back and they had good news. There is a town that is one week away and they are fairly big and are war-ready. They said that the name of the village was Haru and the name behind it meant spring. The native people of the town had abilities that could manipulate the area. Eqihr mentioned that the leader of the town didn't want us to be here publicly but here in secret due to the war.
I told Manny and Eqihr that I used my destructive power while training. They were happy for me and told me that our real training would begin in the long run. Besides that, we needed to figure out how we were going to win this war. Our only bet was to combine forces with Haru and perhaps win a conflict that is outside our control. All of us decided to leave for Haru tomorrow because we needed some time to determine our next move afterward.
Mai told me that she had some doubts about Haru. She said that they seemed to offer to simply let us enter due to the gravity of the circumstances. I agreed with her but also opposed her. We had nowhere else to look to. Yuki was destroyed, and the village was kidnapped. We didn't exactly have any options on our end. Mai, however, kept her suspicions on high alert. She didn't feel like she could trust them.
After I talked to everyone, I went and ate something while strolling down the meadow. While I did that, I wanted to speak to the nature that surrounded me. I pulled in the energy and felt the neverending danger. This feeling was horrifying and made me feel unsafe. I stopped communicating with them and ate my apple. Manny walked to me and asked me how I felt about the war. "Which part: we could die or the people who depend on us?" He said both and sat next to me. He told me that no matter what, he would never die until he exacted revenge.
I told him that I would stand right by him until he reached his goal. He would tell me to not follow his path but find a way to fix everything through my natural ability, peace. I overlooked his request and kept my promise.
Moments later, Manny and I were back in the village and we were talking to Mai's father and he told us to keep our heads sharp and take caution regarding Haru. He didn't talk much, but he knew about Haru's reputation. He'd say that they were known to be as deceiving as a snake.
Afterward, Eqihr told us more about our abilities. First, he said that our abilities hold a reputation throughout Pansen. He added that they are known for being destructive and almost unstoppable. He told us that our abilities can change our bodies. He said that meant that we had powers that aren't found yet. I reminded Eqihr that Manny's appearance changed when we fought that girl one week ago.
Eqihr told us that that was only one part of our abilities since there were only two users of the YinYang spirits. He said that the possibility of there being more abilities is high. Manny asked him how we would know. He didn't have an exact answer for him knowing anything about the extensive part. However, he did say that if we trained hard enough, we could find out. I didn't think it would be an easy task, but it can be beneficial. Eqihr was finished talking to us and told us to spend the rest of the day resting.
After my training today, I needed a break. I went to my hut and went to sleep.
*End Of Chapter 17*