"Watch"
The man said, his voice calm and smooth; the space around him vibrated in a rhythm to his musical voice.
William fell into a trance; every sense other than his vision was shut down. All he could see was the man and the ice and fire mana floating above. The man nodded his head slightly, noticing that William fell into a trance.
The man then gently swayed his hands in a perfect semicircle, the movements perfectly replicated by the ice and fire mana floating above.
He then began to dance with movements that were tuned to perfection. He glided through the void, folding and unfolding his arms. Crossing and uncrossing his legs.
As if nature wished to replicate his movements, the tree behind him began to sway along with him in the perfect rhythm.
The ice and fire manas above replicated the man's movements; the ice mana on his left hand created intricate symbols of frost wherever it passed. The cold emanating from the frost was chilling and intense.
Yet, it didn't clash with the heat produced by the fire mana but blended with it seamlessly as if they were the best of friends.
The dance progressed, and the man's movements became more and more complicated as he moved across the void. He swirled around and raised his hands. The fire and ice mana moved in circles as they revolved around each other, rising higher and higher.
CLAP
The man clapped his hands above his head, creating a shockwave. The fire and ice mana swirled and revolved around each other, getting closer and closer. They spun faster and faster as they got closer, emitting a powerful energy wave of cold and heat
WOONG WOONG
The ice and fire mana got closer and closer to each other, emitting more and more powerful energy waves. Just as two mana were about to touch each other, the man separated his hands.
The man continued dancing, occasionally bringing the ice and fire mana closer to each other. He eccentrically folded and unfolded his arms, making the ice and fire mana intertwine with each other as if they were meant to be together.
The dance was reaching its end; the man then raised his hands and clapped one last time.
CLAP
At his clap, the ice and fire mana moved around, revolving around each other; the intertwined energy revolved around the ice and fire mana balls like an accretion disc supporting them.
The ice and fire mana revolved round and round, trying to find a balance; with each round, the energy emitted was getting more powerful. The man then made a lotus symbol with his hand, which signaled the mana balls to synchronize with each other.
BOOM
With a bang which emitted a powerful shock wave that shook the space-time fabric, the mana balls synchronized.
WOONG WOONG WOONG
The mana balls produced a deep humming sound as they slowly revolved around each other, as if they were twin stars. There was no clash between the energies; there was no…Chaos.
William's mind absorbed the entire dance like a blank canvas. The dance was etched deep in his mind.
The man looked at William and muttered, "@&%$#." With that, the vision ended.
William was now back in the pitch darkness, where the ice and fire mana were still battling each other.
"Huh!?" William exclaimed, coming out of his trance.
"What…happened?" He asked himself, bewildered by the experience he had.
BOOM
Just as he was about to delve more into his experience, the fire and ice mana collided, producing an intense heat and cold.
'Ugh!' William grunted as he folded his arms, shivering. His insides were burning like lava while his outsides were freezing to death.
When William was on the brink of death, the man's image flashed in his mind like the shining moon in the darkest of nights.
'Maybe… should I dance like that?" William pondered, trying to make up his mind.
He then gritted his teeth and thought, 'I should do it; I want to see and play with mothers again.'
He then slowly stood up, CRACK. His thigh bone cracked, it became too fragile due to the cold.
"Aaargh!" William screamed in pain; tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. But still he clenched his fists in determination and closed his eyes, recalling the time he spent with his mothers.
He then slowly lifted his hands and began to replicate the movements. The ice and fire mana swayed heavily at William's movements but didn't stop fighting and increased the intensity.
"Aaaaarrrghhh!" William screamed in pain; his bones made rattling noise whenever he moved, and his muscles made the sound of a stretched rubber threatening to snap at any movement.
But still, he continued, the image of his mothers playing over and over again in his mind as he danced.
CLAP
William clapped and looked at the ice and fire mana, his widened in surprise as both the manas stopped clashing and turned into spheres.
"I-I did it." William exclaimed inwardly in joy.
BANG
The ice and fire mana collided into each other due to William losing his focus. "Mmmmffff." He muffled in pain due to the aftereffect, but there was a smile on his face.
With renewed determination, William continued dancing; he made mistakes along the way.
"Aargh!" He gruntled, 'This step was too fast.' He thought as he adjusted the speed.
'Next, I need to swirl around and bring my hands closer.' He mumbled inwardly as he recalled the dance.
William continued, and with each mistake, injuries piled up on his already broken body. But each time he made a mistake, his flow became smoother and smoother.
The ice and fire mana too began to replicate his hands on his third attempt; the spheres of mana would swirl around each other but would clash the moment William made a mistake.
He would grunt in pain whenever they clashed, but he held on and danced with grit and perseverance.
.
.
.
William is on his fifth attempt; his movements became smooth as a river, and his hands glided gracefully in the darkness as the ice and mana moved around, intertwining with each other.
CLAP
He clapped his hands, ending the dance. The ice and fire mana revolved around each other, producing fierce energy waves that revolved around the spheres of mana like planets around a sun.
WOONG WOONG WOONG
The space rippled like a lake as the spheres of mana accelerated around each other. But William furrowed his brows looking at the balls of mana.
'What was wrong? I did it perfectly; why are they not slowing down?' William panicked; fear began to grip his heart; he was exhausted physically and mentally and did not have the energy to repeat the dance once again.
'What should I do? What should I do?'. His mind began to fall into despair as hope began to fade out of his heart.
'Ah!' He exclaimed as the image of the man's last moment flashed in his mind.
He then immediately made the lotus symbol with his hand and gazed at the balls of mana, expecting them to slow down.
WOOOONG WOOOONG
Much to his relief, the spheres of ice and fire mana slowed down and began revolving slowly. Just like in the vision, the two mana balls did not collide with each other but synchronized and rotated around each other, like they were never meant to be separated in the first place.
The spheres of mana created a ripple in the pitch blackness and hummed, making the void around William vibrate.
He looked at his body, which was now slowly fading away, merging with the darkness. He smiled in relief as he looked at the two rotating stars, one in blue and the other in red.
William recalled the man's last words as his entire body disappeared in the darkness, leaving the two bodies of mana.
...….
A few hours earlier,
Gaia and the Spade family were now in William's room. Ara was sitting beside him on the bed, holding Wiliam's hand firmly.
'Please, please come back, William; Mother is waiting for you.'
Tears were flowing down her eyes as she gently caressed her son's cheeks. Aquila and Carina were on the other side of the bed, Ophiscus was standing a few feet away with Orion.
Vela had gone to Lyra's room when she heard Lyra had woken up, but she was immediately put back to sleep because Lyra kept crying the moment she woke up.
WOONG WOONG
An energy wave containing heat and cold began to exude out of William's body, and his body began to squirm and tremble.
"W-What's happening? William!" Ara yelled in concern as she shook his body. But William's body didn't stop and continued convulsing frivolously.
Gaia, standing beside the bed, swiftly took William's hand and began rubbing them together as she sent out her mana into his body.
Gaia's actions bore fruit as William's body calmed down, but it still convulsed once in a while.
"Lady Gaia, What's happening to William?" Carina asked; her hands and legs were trembling, her eyes were shaking in fright as she looked at her son convulse in pain.
"I don't know." Gaia answered, "I truly wish I did, but I have no idea about what's happening to him." She muttered as she bit her lips, helpless.
A few hours passed by, and Gaia sent her mana to Wiliam whenever he showed adverse reactions. The family were used to it by now, and everyone's faces were now pale since William's reaction got worse and worse as time went on.
'Why is this *Sob* happening to us?'
WOOONG WOOONG
A deep hum emanated out of William's body, turning the group's mood even worse. The hum contained the power of ice and heat, making the room's temperature rise and fall uncontrollably.
"Mhhm" A muffle came out of William's mouth and slightly shook his head.
William's eyelids fluttered a little before he finally opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his mother in tears.
His eyes teared up looking at her. "Mother," he called out.
Everyone's eyes widened hearing William's voice. Ara, who heard her son calling her, bent and hugged her son tightly, "William!"
William's body relaxed; he was safe now; there was no danger anymore... he was finally in the loving embrace of his mother.
"WAAAH"
"Mom, I was so scared." William cried, releasing all the stress that had been built up in his little body.
Ara also teared up, imagining how much pain her son must have felt. "It's okay now, William; you are safe now." She said, her tone gentle, filled with love and reassurance. She gently began to rub his back, soothing him.
He cried for a while before he separated from her and inquired, "Where is sister Lyra?"
"She is fine, William; she is just sleeping." Aquila answered while wiping out the tear marks on her face.
Gaia, who was standing beside William, asked, "William, Are you okay now? What happened?"
William turned towards Gaia. He nodded at her slightly and began to explain about what had happened.
The room fell silent listening William's explanation. Everyone's mouths were agape in shock when they heard what William had to go through.
Carina immediately hugged William and apologized, "I am sorry, William; this has happened because of me."
"It's alright, mother." He consoled, "I am fine now."
"Then, it was never about accumulating more attributes?" Gaia asked, looking at William.
Everyone frowned at Gaia, thinking that this was not the time to ask these questions, but she didn't care. She had to know what went wrong.
William nodded in agreement and said, "That's right, it wasn't all about having a lot of attributes."
"Then?"
William smiled at Gaia's question, recalling the man's last words. He didn't understand what the man had said. But as he danced, he understood.
It's the first thing he understood about his attribute,
"Harmony."