“Enough talk let's go.” The little girl grabbed her blade and lifted it high into the air. Black fog swirled around its entire length, covering it in darkness that enveloped even the sword's wispy glow. “Aaaaaaaand BOOM!” She yelled as her downward swing slashed through the air, annihilating the thick darkness nearly splitting the entire dimension and obliterating the dark fog causing the intense pressure.
Her swing was so fast and powerful that I almost missed it, but the best part was that it actually slashed through the darkness, taking away the demon's biggest advantage. “So how does it work?” I asked, her excitement already rubbing off on me.
“Just like… Uhm, do the thing where you get the energy, but instead of putting it around your eyes, like pop it out of your body, and then put it in your sword like this.” She lifted her sword again, using it as an example before resting it back on her shoulder.
‘I mean, it’s more than I’ve had to go off of in the past…’ I let out a sigh as I focused my mind and gathered the energy but I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. “Pop it out of my body?” I repeated, trying to imagine what exactly she meant. ‘So I’m supposed to let my soul leak out of my body? That uh…’
“Yeah, just imagine, like, you're laying an egg or something. The darkness comes out of you and into the sword.”
“Like, I’m laying an egg…” As the metaphor started to become stranger I started to lose focus, eventually dispersing the built-up energy altogether.
She jumped up into the air, hovering as if she were lying on an invisible recliner. “Exactly, you’re a girl so this should be easy for you.”
“Right… I’m a girl… Not a chicken.”
“Same thing either way, you’re going to lay an egg eventually if you want to have a baby.”
My focus only seemed to be deteriorating more. “What are you talking about now? And who said I even wanted kids…”
She lifted up her finger, still perfectly relaxed. “Everyone wants kids eventually, and that’s why women have to go through monthly training to prepare themselves to lay an egg. Then when they do, the egg hatches and you become a mom. Just think of your dark magic like that. It’s a part of you until it isn’t, then it’s a tool you can use, but instead of doing chores you use it to look cool and break stuff.”
I was left completely speechless. I honestly didn’t know where to begin, it felt like a part of my brain had actually died after the surreal conversation. I admit though, it wasn’t an image I was going to forget anytime soon. ‘So… The other girl is the pure one huh…’
The egg metaphor was a bit much for me… But I was starting to get the picture at least. Instead of an egg though I imagined the magic flowing out of me like sweat from my pores, gravitating towards my sword and surrounding it. In no time I could feel the energy connecting me with my blade.
“YES! That’s it that’s it! See! Easy. Girls always learn this stuff faster.”
I looked over at her, deciding not to say anything as she started bouncing around, still acting like a firecracker. ‘This is supposed to be the version of you that has been corrupted by the world?’
“Now let out a big swing!” She cheered.
I gripped the blade with both hands, swinging as hard as I could, and with a rush of air I felt everything around me seemingly evaporate until the pressure I felt turned to complete weightlessness.
Rafi started laughing, and then suddenly turned quiet. “Oh… Brace yourself though… Here comes the backlash…”
I stopped, turning over to her. “The wha–” My entire body locked up as my adrenaline and blood pressure spiked. In contradiction, my heartbeat slowed, but each time it pounded in my chest it felt so strong that my head might explode. Every muscle in my body clamped down, refusing to release as I stood my ground.
“Don’t worry, this is a one-time thing. When you wake up you’ll be able to use savage strike at will now, so go beat that demon for me. Welcome to the Riftwalkers Siya! I’m… Really glad we're friends… So don’t die on me, K?”
I tried to breathe, but it was like my body wasn’t responding, then, as soon as she finished speaking, I blinked, waking up with a quick breath, sitting up straight the moment I could move and gasping for air. With one final pounding in my chest, the black marks ran down my skin like a wave before dissipating just as fast.
My body was still trembling, and my brain was now half asleep from waking up so quickly. Without thinking I scrambled over to the lake, splashing water on my face to help me wake up… The moment it hit my skin though, I realized my mistake, quickly wiping it off with the blanket and holding my breath until the pain passed. ‘I’m seriously losing it…’
Looking around, I checked to see if the others were still asleep. Since they were I took the opportunity to change back into my armor, check my weapons, and stretch out my body.
I felt awful and great at the same time. Physically speaking, I hadn’t felt my body move so smoothly in… Well, ever, not even in my past life. There wasn’t any pain in my joints, or popping in my knees and shoulders, and even the wound on my back felt completely healed, replaced instead with a bit of dull soreness. Even my posture was just naturally perfect somehow.
At the same time, I felt sluggish. My movements were smooth, yes, but they were also slow. Even though my body was in top shape, my mind was still completely drained.
Yawning, I decided to pass the time till the others woke up by meditating, opening my senses, and trying to recover from all the mental beatings.
It worked surprisingly well, as I not only calmed the nervous flow of my manna but also the violent tendencies of my soul’s energy as well. When I became at peace, my senses opened, and the manna zone, the very first thing my father taught me, happened on its own without effort. Only… With my soul energy as well. It was like both circled around me in lattices my soul sitting just under my manna and acting as a much thicker, more sensitive expansion of my will, even outside my body it was still very much a part of me. Still, I wouldn’t call it better. It was much slower to move, and harder to control, seeming to almost have a will of its own
I became so attuned with my surroundings that I couldn’t even feel myself breathing, as if I almost didn’t even exist anymore. I could hear the other's breath, smell salted meat that was locked in the bags, and see every grain of sand that trickled from the wall.
A faint whistle howled in the wind from one of the nearby walls. ‘An air current?’ I stood up, walking over to a small crevice behind the lake, ‘I was right, it’s another way out.’
I slowly squeezed through a gap the I almost didn’t even fit through, feeling a bit guilty as I heard my armor scratch against the jagged stone. I knew it was tough enough to not be scratched, but the noise told me I was ruining it, making me internally apologize to Lu as I came out the other side, checking it to be sure.
‘Turns out it’s as durable as I thought. Well… It did block an arrow without a scratch after all. Even if it wasn’t pointed that’s still not nothing.’
“Siya!”
I heard yelling from back in the cave and cupped my hands around my mouth. “THIS WAY! THERE’S ANOTHER WAY OUT!” I yelled. ‘It’s actually pretty convenient, no idea how we’d get out otherwise. Well, actually I’m probably the only one that can get out this way.’
“I was worried something happened to you!” the voice yelled back.
“I’M FINE DON’T WORRY!” ‘It’s funny how much Airsidh sounds like Keigan sometimes…’ I paused for a moment. ‘Wait, but Air doesn’t worry about anything… Even if he did he wouldn’t admit it.’
“Enough talk let's go.” The little girl grabbed her blade and lifted it high into the air. Black fog swirled around its entire length, covering it in darkness that enveloped even the sword's wispy glow. “Aaaaaaaand BOOM!” She yelled as her downward swing slashed through the air, annihilating the thick darkness nearly splitting the entire dimension and obliterating the dark fog causing the intense pressure.
Her swing was so fast and powerful that I almost missed it, but the best part was that it actually slashed through the darkness, taking away the demon's biggest advantage. “So how does it work?” I asked, her excitement already rubbing off on me.
“Just like… Uhm, do the thing where you get the energy, but instead of putting it around your eyes, like pop it out of your body, and then put it in your sword like this.” She lifted her sword again, using it as an example before resting it back on her shoulder.
‘I mean, it’s more than I’ve had to go off of in the past…’ I let out a sigh as I focused my mind and gathered the energy but I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. “Pop it out of my body?” I repeated, trying to imagine what exactly she meant. ‘So I’m supposed to let my soul leak out of my body? That uh…’
“Yeah, just imagine, like, you're laying an egg or something. The darkness comes out of you and into the sword.”
“Like, I’m laying an egg…” As the metaphor started to become stranger I started to lose focus, eventually dispersing the built-up energy altogether.
She jumped up into the air, hovering as if she were lying on an invisible recliner. “Exactly, you’re a girl so this should be easy for you.”
“Right… I’m a girl… Not a chicken.”
“Same thing either way, you’re going to lay an egg eventually if you want to have a baby.”
My focus only seemed to be deteriorating more. “What are you talking about now? And who said I even wanted kids…”
She lifted up her finger, still perfectly relaxed. “Everyone wants kids eventually, and that’s why women have to go through monthly training to prepare themselves to lay an egg. Then when they do, the egg hatches and you become a mom. Just think of your dark magic like that. It’s a part of you until it isn’t, then it’s a tool you can use, but instead of doing chores you use it to look cool and break stuff.”
I was left completely speechless. I honestly didn’t know where to begin, it felt like a part of my brain had actually died after the surreal conversation. I admit though, it wasn’t an image I was going to forget anytime soon. ‘So… The other girl is the pure one huh…’
The egg metaphor was a bit much for me… But I was starting to get the picture at least. Instead of an egg though I imagined the magic flowing out of me like sweat from my pores, gravitating towards my sword and surrounding it. In no time I could feel the energy connecting me with my blade.
“YES! That’s it that’s it! See! Easy. Girls always learn this stuff faster.”
I looked over at her, deciding not to say anything as she started bouncing around, still acting like a firecracker. ‘This is supposed to be the version of you that has been corrupted by the world?’
“Now let out a big swing!” She cheered.
I gripped the blade with both hands, swinging as hard as I could, and with a rush of air I felt everything around me seemingly evaporate until the pressure I felt turned to complete weightlessness.
Rafi started laughing, and then suddenly turned quiet. “Oh… Brace yourself though… Here comes the backlash…”
I stopped, turning over to her. “The wha–” My entire body locked up as my adrenaline and blood pressure spiked. In contradiction, my heartbeat slowed, but each time it pounded in my chest it felt so strong that my head might explode. Every muscle in my body clamped down, refusing to release as I stood my ground.
“Don’t worry, this is a one-time thing. When you wake up you’ll be able to use savage strike at will now, so go beat that demon for me. Welcome to the Riftwalkers Siya! I’m… Really glad we're friends… So don’t die on me, K?”
I tried to breathe, but it was like my body wasn’t responding, then, as soon as she finished speaking, I blinked, waking up with a quick breath, sitting up straight the moment I could move and gasping for air. With one final pounding in my chest, the black marks ran down my skin like a wave before dissipating just as fast.
My body was still trembling, and my brain was now half asleep from waking up so quickly. Without thinking I scrambled over to the lake, splashing water on my face to help me wake up… The moment it hit my skin though, I realized my mistake, quickly wiping it off with the blanket and holding my breath until the pain passed. ‘I’m seriously losing it…’
Looking around, I checked to see if the others were still asleep. Since they were I took the opportunity to change back into my armor, check my weapons, and stretch out my body.
I felt awful and great at the same time. Physically speaking, I hadn’t felt my body move so smoothly in… Well, ever, not even in my past life. There wasn’t any pain in my joints, or popping in my knees and shoulders, and even the wound on my back felt completely healed, replaced instead with a bit of dull soreness. Even my posture was just naturally perfect somehow.
At the same time, I felt sluggish. My movements were smooth, yes, but they were also slow. Even though my body was in top shape, my mind was still completely drained.
Yawning, I decided to pass the time till the others woke up by meditating, opening my senses, and trying to recover from all the mental beatings.
It worked surprisingly well, as I not only calmed the nervous flow of my manna but also the violent tendencies of my soul’s energy as well. When I became at peace, my senses opened, and the manna zone, the very first thing my father taught me, happened on its own without effort. Only… With my soul energy as well. It was like both circled around me in lattices my soul sitting just under my manna and acting as a much thicker, more sensitive expansion of my will, even outside my body it was still very much a part of me. Still, I wouldn’t call it better. It was much slower to move, and harder to control, seeming to almost have a will of its own
I became so attuned with my surroundings that I couldn’t even feel myself breathing, as if I almost didn’t even exist anymore. I could hear the other's breath, smell salted meat that was locked in the bags, and see every grain of sand that trickled from the wall.
A faint whistle howled in the wind from one of the nearby walls. ‘An air current?’ I stood up, walking over to a small crevice behind the lake, ‘I was right, it’s another way out.’
I slowly squeezed through a gap the I almost didn’t even fit through, feeling a bit guilty as I heard my armor scratch against the jagged stone. I knew it was tough enough to not be scratched, but the noise told me I was ruining it, making me internally apologize to Lu as I came out the other side, checking it to be sure.
‘Turns out it’s as durable as I thought. Well… It did block an arrow without a scratch after all. Even if it wasn’t pointed that’s still not nothing.’
“Siya!”
I heard yelling from back in the cave and cupped my hands around my mouth. “THIS WAY! THERE’S ANOTHER WAY OUT!” I yelled. ‘It’s actually pretty convenient, no idea how we’d get out otherwise. Well, actually I’m probably the only one that can get out this way.’
“I was worried something happened to you!” the voice yelled back.
“I’M FINE DON’T WORRY!” ‘It’s funny how much Airsidh sounds like Keigan sometimes…’ I paused for a moment. ‘Wait, but Air doesn’t worry about anything… Even if he did he wouldn’t admit it.’
