*AETHERIUS*
I entered the guild with Celia and headed to the dining area, where I saw my parents, my siblings, and the others.
Elowen turned towards me and exclaimed, "Ther!" as she ran towards me. "I was worried, you left and didn't come back," she said, hugging me. I glanced over at the table where everyone else was and then looked away.
I coughed slightly and spoke, "Sorry for being gone for so long. I wanted to calm down before returning, but it took me longer than expected," I said, bowing my head slightly in apology.
Mom raised her hand and spoke, "It's okay, son. We understand. We've already spoken with Octavious and Atheria. They both apologized for what happened, as they only wanted to help you," she explained.
"I know, and thank you for the help," I scratched my cheek and then waited for someone else to speak, but no one did.
Dad stood up. "Well, now that Therius is here, let's rest. It's been a long day. We'll talk about what happened tomorrow," he ordered, and everyone got up.
Trevor's friends said goodbye and left. Trevor messed up my hair, causing it to come undone, and Layra touched my shoulder before we both went up to our rooms.
Mom and Dad did the same and left. Elowen stayed with me a little longer but started yawning. "Go to sleep, Wen. It's late," I advised her, and she obeyed.
The others also left, escorting the girls home, and eventually, I was alone. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so when the guild closed, I headed to the training area.
There was no one there, so I turned on the lights and went to the center of the room. I sat down and started meditating, repeatedly going over the feeling of anger that had built up during the fight, and began to flow mana through my body.
This time, I directed the anger into annoyance and then mere irritation, keeping it under control. The mana in me didn't explode this time but simply flowed out. When I felt like I could achieve it, the spell failed.
I tried again and again, repeating the process for hours.
(9 days until the exam.)
Still meditating, I repeated the same process for the hundredth time, finally stabilizing it. I had finally managed to do it. For a long time, I had been feeling something, a disturbance, but I never paid it much attention until now.
I turned and saw sunlight coming in through the windows, realizing it was daytime.
"I can see you've been here all night," Trevor said as he approached. "Yes, I have," I replied. "You weren't the only one," he said, pointing to a spot behind me.
Then I remembered the sensation of feeling something, and I turned to the spot where it had come from. Atheria was sitting asleep on a bench at the back of the room. I think she was the one I had been sensing.
I approached her and spoke, "Atheria, it's daytime. Wake up," I shook her gently, and she woke up. "Good morning, young man. I can see you're feeling better. That's good to see," she rubbed her eyes and got up. "Yes, I'm better," I responded.
Trevor chuckled. "Go wash up a bit and come have breakfast," he ordered, and I complied. I went to my room, washed up, lay down on my bed, and my world went dark.
I woke up, and the room was dark, and a voice was heard, "Kakaka, what an interesting child you are. I can see you've grown stronger, but you've left behind what I gave you," my mind clicked.
"It's you. I expected to see you again someday, but it never came. Tell me, why did you give me that magic?" I asked. "Because you have the weapon, and the weapon resonated with you, recognizing you as its owner," the shadow explained.
"Let me explain. This weapon contains my power, and the weapon is conscious. Many have wielded it, but none were recognized, except for you, of course. When it recognized you, it synchronized with you and your core, giving you that magic—my magic."
"You said I would meet you someday. Is today that day, now?" I asked. "No, here we are talking in your mind through the scythe, allowing us to communicate but preventing you from seeing my real form until I decide otherwise," it replied to my question.
"But fear not, you're not in danger now. Now let me give you an explanation of something you might have on your mind. As you already know, when we had our first encounter, your body had seizures, causing convulsions and your body to burn. That was because you synchronized with my magic, and having a foreign and unknown magic to your core caused them to both fight until it finally entered your core. That's why we had our first encounter that day," it explained that matter in more detail.
"And now, what should I do? If you say I should abandon the magic you gave me, how do I master it? I can't use it for anything other than a radar and holding beasts," I asked several things at once.
"You don't need to worry. You have plenty of time to figure it out. When you see signs in the outside world, you'll get an idea of how to use it, just like that time against the Wave," it replied to both of my questions at once.
"It's time for me to go. I hope to see you again, child. I want to see your progress in the future," the voice faded away.
Now I truly woke up, and Layra was still by my side. When she looked at me, she ran off, "Mom, Dad, Therius woke up!" I heard.
Mom came running and hugged me, "Oh, son, you did it again," she said as she let go of me. "What did I do?" I asked.
"You fell asleep again, but this time for three days," she replied. Ahh, I hope this doesn't happen every time I encounter him.
(Continues: 12 days until the exam.)
Dad came in with a tray of food and calmed Mom down. "Calm down, dear. This time it was just a normal setback," he said, handing me the tray, and I ate the soup that was on it.
"Son, after staying up all night meditating and exhausting your body and emptying your core completely, stay in bed until today," he tied my hair back with a band from my shelf.
"I'm already recovered, and my core and stomach are full. Thanks, Dad, for the food," I got up, and we went downstairs, where everyone was in the living room.
"Good... morning?" I asked what time it was. "Actually, it's afternoon," Elowen replied. "Yes, that, good afternoon, everyone," I greeted.
I looked at Otto and said, "I figured out how to use the spell Atheria taught me. Now there's no need to make me angry," I said, laughing, and Otto laughed too.
I looked at Otto and said, "I managed to figure out how to use the spell Atheria taught me. Now they don't need to make me angry anymore," I said, laughing, and Otto laughed too.
"Well, if you're feeling so good, let's continue with the training," Otto announced, and I agreed.
We all went to the training area, and Otto and I positioned ourselves. "Now, without any attempts to annoy you, show me what you were able to do," Otto said. I repeated the process I had done during the night, rolling my mana in my core and directing it to my veins, flowing to every corner of my body.
Slowly, the static turned into electricity, and tendrils emerged around me. "Congratulations, Therius. Now I can officially say that you have assimilated with your lightning magic," Atheria announced, clapping, and the others joined in.
I drew my weapon and electrified it, spinning it and walking calmly. I stopped my weapon and swung it, releasing a lightning bolt, which was defended by Otto's weapons.
As the white light of my attack faded, I lunged at Otto, aiming my attack at his right leg, and he blocked it. I swung my blade back from above, and it was also blocked.
With the staff blocking the attack, I pulled it knowing it wouldn't break, and Otto's weapon was pulled. I stood on my left leg, spun, and kicked Otto in the abdomen, making him step back and rub where I hit him.
I lunged at him once again, turning my blade to the front, and when it was blocked, I turned it back, placing my hands on the curved staff of my weapon and spinning it on my hip.
Without intending to use it, black whips emerged from his shadow, holding his arms. I felt Otto's body bathing in more mana to block my attack, which hit the same spot as before, making him step back, and then the fight stopped.
I looked at everyone, who was surprised by the whips that came out of his shadow. When I realized, I didn't know how to explain that.
I went pale as everyone looked at me amazed. "W-What was that?" Fredic asked.
I closed my eyes and felt it was time to tell a half-truth.
"Do you all remember when I fought Otto and how my weapon shrank?" I asked, and everyone nodded.
"Well, that same day I collapsed and had those attacks, and my temperature rose and stuff. Turns out, my weapon bonded with me and my core, causing all those episodes, as my core was trying to reject any connection with my weapon until the day I woke up," I explained. Before another question came out, I continued speaking.
"Recently, while I was sleeping, I remembered all that as if I were seeing it, and until a while before Elowen's birthday, this magic was born, and that's the only explanation I can give you, and I managed to understand it," I finished, and everyone remained silent.
"And how does it work?" Layra asked. I gave them a demonstration of what little I had learned, the whip I made when I summoned orbs from my shadow along with the whips. I infused a bit of electricity from my right hand and shadow magic from my left, combined them, and created black electricity.
"I never used this because I didn't know how to handle more than just this small part," I explained.
"Interesting," Dad expressed. "We have two days left before the exam. How about we do some tests?" he asked, looking at Mom for approval, and she just shrugged and then looked at me, and I nodded.
We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to create more black electricity, but it was in vain. The mental will required for this was too much, and I tired quickly. For a whole day, Layra, Valentina, and Sara went to the libraries in search of any books with information about this magic, but they found nothing.
Even Fredic went to the guild's library and found nothing, and we gave up.
"Ahhh, we can't find anything, and you can't do more than just that. That'll be a problem for the future if you want to learn how to handle something that doesn't exist, at least not in writing," Trevor complained.
"Haha, true, but let's leave it here. Let's better prepare for my exam," I finished, and thus the day ended.