The Gate Core glittered like a drop of morning dew, glowing with inner light. Millions of strands of mana, unseen to any eyes but my own, leaped from it like twine, binding the very fabric of the gate together. I could feel it coursing through the miniature world, shoring up the dimensional walls and driving it toward Enusia. With the gate commander dead, the core was like the helm of a ship without its master, waiting for me to take its power for my own.
But I couldn't, not directly at least, or the infernal taint would corrupt and break my fragile soul apart. That was where the elemental spirit came in. At my nod, it broke into snowflakes once more, collapsing like a pillar of shining salt. The miniature storm swirled around me like a personal typhoon, the spirit's mana sheathing my soul like a cloak. I could feel it all pulsing with my heartbeat, the soul bond a thousand times more intimate and intense than Fable's had ever been.
