Chapter 044:

Verona stopped when they arrived at the top of the ridge. From there they could still see Atros, even though it looked so lonely and isolated in the endless grasslands. Even more so, flanked to the north by Mount Aspire and to the west was the forest that seemed to span the horizon. She could also see the lake to the south, and the strange square pillars that rose up from the waters. To the north of where they stood there was a small forest on top of the same ridge that ran to the mountains. That was where they had both seen Kal run towards.

I'm sure she'll be fine. She has spent nearly every day of her life living in the wilds. Heading into a cave, a cave that she already knows, would be nothing compared to that. I couldn't do something like that.

A cough brought her back to the present. Anton looked at her worryingly, it was clear on his face that he was very concerned about her state of mind. That made her feel a little warm inside. Though, if she was honest with herself, she was worried about herself too. She had come here to try and begin to understand her powers and not to just gaze off into the distance. Anton would be the one to tell her that they could not waste time to get herself under control.

"Sorry, Anton," she began, scratching the back of her head while smiling as reassuringly as she could, "Just got a little bit distracted. I'm fine...."

She chuckled nervously, Anton's face filled more with worry.

"I guess that, when it comes down to it, I'm actually got quite nervous."

That elicited a smile from Anton. Did he appreciate that she was being honest with herself, and not pretending to be pointlessly brave? Possibly. This was nothing to be pointlessly overconfident about. Her future was about to be decided.

Verona clapped her hands and readied herself to begin.

“Okay. Well, first I'm going to need some blood.”

“Right.” Anton answered, moving forward. “Just so I know, so I can make sense of this, there's nothing...different right now?”

Verona took a moment before answering. She searched within herself, looking for the urge for carnage and blood, but found nothing.

“Nothing yet.” she answered. “I'm not using my power though.”

“That's good.” Anton said as he moved forward. “I'll need you to tell me what's happening at every stage of you using your power. I can't tell what you're feeling.”

“What do you mean by stage?...oh, like each step of me using my power.” Verona chuckled. “I think I'm getting used to some of the things you say from your world. I can get a little bit lost when you're talking quickly and those words just get thrown in.”

Anton smiled, offering his hand to Verona.

“It is a little bit hard to not use those.” Anton explained. “Having used them for many years, it's a bit hard to just stop using them.”

Years...that's a winter? Yes? Yes.

“I get'cha. It's just like a reaction. Like when the sound of metal clanging makes everyone get ready to fight.”

Anton nodded slowly.

“Basically. So, how much blood do think you'll need? It probably shouldn't be too much this time.”

Verona lowered her spear so Anton could give her some blood. Before it was not a problem for her to get blood from Anton, it was like something that had to be done for her to use her power. Like money changing hands for goods. Now that there were issues with her blood power, she felt a little ill about using Anton as her source of blood. Just in case something went wrong. Just in case she went...crazy.

Anton could see hesitation and fear on her face. He ran the palm of his hand over the edge of the spear, the spear that never seemed to dull no matter what she cut with it, drawing out a few drops of blood. A little wince of pain flashed over his face. How he was able to do this, over and over again, without worrying about the pain was odd. He was just that odd.

She took a deep breath, to calm herself for what was to come, and started to light the fire within her. A warm sensation ran through every part of her body. It was not unpleasant, in itself, but now it felt more insidious. Her exposed skin, those with the marks running over it, glowed bright red, even those underneath her clothing. She knew that her eyes glowed red, not that she could see anything different. Anton did not seem to mind. That was a little odd, but reassuring that he said or made no reaction to it. It made her feel a little bit more normal and she could relax a little easier.

Focusing her mental effort onto the blood coming from Anton's hand she started to draw it towards her. She held out one of the small clay pots and directed the blood into it. After half filling it she stopped drawing up fresh blood.

“I think that will be enough for now.” Verona said as she gently pulled away the spear.

There was still quite a bit of blood still on the red crystal, the easiest way to see it was the bright sheen from the blood. She focused her power and took that into the small clay pot as well. Through her power she could still feel the blood on Anton's hand, like it was a shadowy extension of her body. She wanted that gone when she started to practice.

“Right.” Anton said.

She watched his wound start to heal itself, the droplets of blood disappearing. It felt like it was water being drawn into the dry dirt, disappearing to somewhere beyond her control.

“So...what do you think I should do to start with?” Verona asked as genuinely as she could. “Should I just move it about for a little while? Or do you think I should try making it into the crystal shapes?”

Anton rubbed his hand through his bearded chin. His face was the same one as when he thought deeply. His eyes were focusing on something far away and she knew that she could pull odd faces and he would not realise. That brought a little smile to her face as she watched him think.

“Perhaps...we should start with the basics.” Anton replied, looking straight at her. “The basics are always going to be the most important. In this case, I think it would just be able to move it about, split the blood into parts and reform it. There'll be chances to experiment with the other forms of your power a little bit later.”

Experiment?...I'm guessing that means roughly what I'm doing right now; trying my power out in a controlled way so we can figure out what's happening. Just another strange word from his strange world...

“'kay. Let's get this thing-”

“Hang on.” Anton stopped her.

“What's wrong?” Verona did not like being stopped like that. Was something changing on her already?

“Your presents.” Anton said, pointing to her barrette on her head. “If something goes a bit wrong...I don't really want to see them get damaged.”

Anton trailed off at the end, he was a little embarrassed that he was suggesting that he was more concerned about the barrette and chain than her. She knew that was not the truth, and while she was tempted to tease him for the mistake, she refrained.

“Yeah, though you could have said it better.” she could not help but make a little jab at him.

Anton smiled bitterly, though it faded when Verona smiled herself. She walked towards Anton and turned around.

“I still don't know how the Barrette clips onto my hair, or how the chain holds my hair back like that. Could you show me this time?”

She looked up at him, tilting her head backwards, and received a smile. Anton took his time and explained how he put them on her. She guessed how it worked but she just wanted him to do it. There was something about his fingers running through her hair.

With both of her presents off, and safe at Anton's side, she returned to her previous spot. She focused and drew up the blood, forming a small ball infront of her. It always felt a little strange to look at it like this, knowing that it once belonged to someone else. Why she could not use her own blood was still a mystery, but an easily solvable one when she thought about it; using lots of your own blood would make you very weak, though it did not explain why she could not use a little at the beginning of a fight. That menat she always had to have weapons and be skilled enough to score a hit or at least travel with someone else.

She shook her head to focus herself on the task ahead. She continued to focus on just moving the ball every so slightly, feeling out what she had to do in order to make it move.

“Okay. I can do this with no problems.”

“And you don't feel anything strange?” Anton asked.

Verona cocked her head to see around the floating blood sphere to Anton.

“I need you to tell me everything that you feel, anything that's odd. I can't really tell just by looking at your face.”

Verona nodded.

“Right now, I don't feel anything odd. I have this sort of warm feeling traveling through me, but that's the same that I always have when I'm using my power...at least when my marks start to glow.”

Anton nodded. He mumbled something to himself but refused to elaborate.

“I started to feel excited, when the battle was well underway. Blood and dead Kobolds was flying everywhere. Not excited that we were winning the battle against the Kobolds but that there was so much blood. I don't know if just using it will have the same effect. But...”

“Only one way to find out. Can you start moving it around for a bit? Tell me how you feel when you are moving this small amount.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

Verona lay down her spear on the grass. She was sure that Anton would have said something about that in a moment, something about focusing everything on controlling and exploring her power and not putting mental energy into holding the spear. A tiny nod from Anton told her that it was probably the right thing.

Using both hands she started to move the small sphere again. It began to move slowly with slight pushes of her mana, something that felt akin to a 'heaviness' that filled her body. It was only a feeling, it did not actually slow her down but it felt as if it should. When she stopped pushing in mana the sphere stopped. It remained hovering where she pushed it and did not fall to the ground. Some mana was still flowing into it, tiny compared what she used to move it, but it was there and noticeable. Over the next little while she moved it faster and faster infront of her. Sometimes she would make it move incredibly fast then bring it to a halt. That used far more mana than slowing it down over a longer distance. It was almost like a muscle.

“I can move this single one just fine.” she told Anton, moving the blood sphere in a circle infront of her. “Controlling this one piece feels as easy as breathing. I was able to control hundreds of little blood shards during the battle.”

“But did you have the same precise control over them like you do this one?” Anton asked.

Verona searched her memory of that day, trying very hard to focus on how she used her power and not the slaughter that was surrounding her.

“Not, not this well.” she answered. “I could make them behave as I wanted to, but it was hard to keep them all together like I originally wanted. Eventually I just held the shards roughly together and made them follow me as I ran, I didn't send them forward with this much control. That's what made all those scratches on the wall.”

“It's pretty clear to me that one is no problem for you. How about if you split it?”

Verona nodded and focused her find. It was a little difficult to split them quickly, like she was trying to cut something by throwing a blade at it and hoping it would be cut into two even halves. When she had split her blood before, when she ran the shards along the outside of the wall, she had only made them roughly the same size. There was no time to worry about making them perfectly identical. This time, for the purpose of this test, she took her time and effort to split it into ten equally sized spheres. Now that there were ten, there was also ten times the mana being used to keep them together. It was not as much as she needed to move them about but she felt the increased drain on her mana. With those formed she moved those about like she had done the single.

It took her a bit longer to get them to all behave like she wanted to at the same time, but she did. It was a lot more difficult than just making them into a shape and then throwing them all forward. To control them all at once, when they were heading in different directions, took skill and effort. Eventually she had them following one another like a snake through the air, forcing them out in random directions, and then reforming them into the snake-like pattern.

Anton's chuckling brought her back to the present.

“It looks like you're really enjoying this.”

“Am I?”

She brought a hand up to her face and realized she was smiling. She was having fun, like this was a normal part of her that she was continuing to explore its potential. As if the blood spheres were dancing in place of her.

“I guess I am.” she said with a chuckle.

“And nothing odd yet?”

Verona searched within herself but could not feel anything yet. Not the shiver of excitement nor of the desire to cause ever more destruction. Nor the desire to drink the blood for the disturbing sexual pleasure and release.

“Not yet.” Verona answered truthfully, Anton nodding in return. “I can move these little blood balls with no issue, but this isn't the same...um...surroundings, to when I had my 'urges'.”

“We'll come to that in a little bit. Maybe.”

Verona threw him a quizzical brow. It would have looked quite odd to him, with her glowing red eyes and body.

“Just bring it all back into one sphere for me.”

She did so, with the tiniest push of mana. As each ball coalesced into the larger, the amount of mana she needed to control it diminished until it was the same as when she had started. As the last piece joined the whole she opened her mouth to ask the next stage when she felt something. It was just a flicker of something and then it was gone. Whatever it was, it was gone before she barely had a chance to explore it. This was not something to ignore.

“I just felt something.” she said, keeping her gaze of the blood sphere.

“Okay...” Anton trailed off.

Verona shook her head. He would need a bit more of an explanation than that.

“I don't know what it was. When I reformed the blood sphere, something just flickered through the back of my mind, and then it was gone again. I have no idea what it was. And it's not there now.”

Anton nodded thoughtfully.

“Okay. I would like for us to continue, but only if you're still comfortable.”

Verona took a moment before nodding.

“We need to keep going.” she said definitely, but was not sure to whom she was really talking to. “It was only there for a flicker and then it was gone. I need to keep going if I'm to get control of this power.”

Anton nodded again, motioning her to continue.

“I use the crystal style of my power the most, so I suppose I should try out that now.”

As there was no objection from Anton she decided to continue. Focusing her mind on the floating blood sphere, she started to make the blood crystallize, as if a part of her was forming into the crystal. The sphere shrunk barely perceptibly as it hardened, tiny little cracks formed along the outside. A part of her wondered if she was focusing to hard and that was what was causing it. She relaxed her effort slightly and the sphere too seemed to relax. Now the crystal sphere floated infront of her.

“I don't feel anything,” Verona told Anton, “And this is what I usually do when I'm using my power; get it all into one big ball and then break it apart and into what I want it to be.”

“Maybe the blood power is meant to keep it as a fluid.” Anton offered, rubbing his bearded and looking down in thought. “Since blood is meant to be a liquid, perhaps changing it into a crystal and keeping it in that state might be a part of the problem?”

Verona mussed on it, but could not say one way or the other.

“Though it does seem easy to use it as a weapon.” he added quietly.

“I...I don't know. Using it this way just feels more natural, or easy. I just have one big lump to move rather than-”

Something shivered up her spine. It felt different than the fleeting feeling she had just felt before, and it was nowhere near the level that she felt during the battle with the Kobolds, but it was definitely there.

“I just felt something.” Verona said aloud.

Anton looked concerned at her.

“It was like a shiver that ran down my spine.” Verona began to explain. “That's what I felt when I started to get the 'urge' from the fighting. Just a tingle of joy and excitement. Then I sort of started to loose myself to the sensation. Only drinking the blood shook me out of it.”

“But nothing like...what happened later?”

He asked as delicately as he could, but there was no hiding what he meant.

“No. That would have sent me into spasms, and I would have fallen down. You couldn't have missed it.”

Anton fought down a flush and so too did Verona.

“Anyway,” she coughed to correct herself, “I don't feel it now, or in the time we've just been talking.”

“I guess the next thing is to try using the blood crystal in the same way that you used the liquid. Try and keep an eye out for it.”

“Right.” Verona nodded.

She focused and forced the crystal into a flat shape like the head on her spear. The edges were as rounded as she could manage with the power, while keeping it relatively the same shape, so she would not harm either of them too much should she loose control. Thinking about loosing control reminded her of the large sharp plate creation she had made during the battle with the Kobolds at the Lake. It had done very well in a straight line but when she tried to turn it, it had dug in and spun wildly away.

Later, once I've got my power under control, I'll see about finding out what happened there. But for now, Focus!

She took another deep breath and began to move the blood crystal. Controlling the shard was a little easier compared to the liquified blood. Mainly because it retained its shape and she did not have to focus as much of her mental energy, or mana, into keeping it in shape.

Quite some time passed, as she found it just as easy to control as before. There were no shivers of excitement or the desire to drink blood. Part of her wanted it to happen now, so at least it would be over with.

Anton brought her out of her almost trance as she played with the blood.

“So, nothing else?”

“Hmm?”

Anton frowned slightly. “No other strange feelings?”

Verona shook her head.

“Not right now.” she answered. “Maybe if I try and break the crystals again...”

She stopped the flying shard of blood and brought it infront of her. With another burst of mana she broke the blood crystal into ten smaller shards. The shiver returned, but refused to go away despite her shout.

“It's here again.” she said, concern on her face. “That feeling. Stronger than the flicker I had before, and it's staying. It's like a shiver that runs down my spine. It's not that much right now, but I do feel it.”

“Is there anything else to it, other than just the shiver?”

Verona held the shards as they were, closed her eyes and looked within herself. She could feel it running down her spine but so long as she fought against it, it was controllable. Before she had just pushed it away, but now, as she looked and felt deeper, there was something else. There was a pulse and pressure that was buried underneath the shiver, at the small of her back. If she had not been looking she would have never of found it.

“Yeah, there is. There's a pulse, or something, underneath it. I don't know how long it's been there...” Verona opened her eyes and looked at him. “It could have been underneath that warm feeling I get from just using my power. I, I don't know.”

“Is a beat like your heart?”

She held her hand over her heart. They were not the same. A look of annoyance overcame his face as she shook her head.

“Okay. If it was then it might have had something to do with that. As for what it is, I honestly have no idea.”

Verona bit down on her lip at hearing this.

“But,” he continued, “Can you still use your power well?”

She nodded frantically.

“Of course. It's just that the more of that feeling I get, the harder it is for me to concentrate on properly controlling my power. You know, it just becomes harder and harder to ignore. I might even loose control completely...” her face turned into a grimace. “Like when I used the ball of spikes. I didn't even know that I was laughing like a maniac at watching them die. I had to be woken up from it.”

Anton smiled.

“I won't let it come to that.”

He did not explain further on what he would actually do, but the thought that someone was looking out for her was a soothing wave over her troubled heart and mind.

“I'll do my best. I'm going to keep it under control.”

She started to push to the shards around just like the liquid blood, first following one another than randomly. As she continued to play with the crystals the urge slowly became stronger. It was still manageable but it was becoming more distressing.

“Why do you think it's come now?” she asked Anton, continuing to make the shards dance with one another. “And not when I first got it?”

“You remember the gods dream that we had?”

Verona nodded. There was no way she was going to forget that night quickly. She held the shards still, the urge slowly bubbled away at the back of her mind.

“When I asked to see the other people from my world they said that I was starting to run out of mana.” She squinted at him, it was not very helpful. “And, that I was still attuning to my mana, whatever that really means.”

“So, I've become better 'attuned' with mine?” Verona asked, “And that's why I'm starting to have this feeling. Also, what does 'attuned' mean?”

“Basically that you and your mana are becoming one, more closely connected.”

“It might have been happening from the begining, but my body and the power were still growing closer so I didn't have this problem. And now, after having it for almost a whole season....”

Anton nodded.

“Something like that, yes. It's a possibility.”

Verona sighed.

“So that means that if I don't get this controlled soon, I might not have the chance to do so again? When the 'urges' become too strong for me to stop if I don't know how to?”

Anton grimly nodded.

"It's...a possibility."

“More reasons to get this thing under control. And now.”

She closed her eyes and focused on the shivering feeling, and the dull throbbing underneath. It came from where her glyph mark lay on her back. She was in no doubt that was the cause.

Alright you, I don't know if you are just a part of this magic that I have or it's something that Jira gave me as punishment, but you are going to stop!

Somehow the shivering did go down. Not a lot, but noticeable.

Huh. I don't think just shouting will get you under control...

She refocused her effort on the source. Focusing her mental energy on it, she tried her best to stop it. To sooth it. The mana started to flow into the source, begginning to subside to a barely noticeable pulse.

This seems to be working. Anton would probably say to keep going.

As she tried harder to sooth the feeling, it also felt as if everything was becoming more distant. Her own mind started to detach from her body. Yet this did not feel wrong or alarming. With each wave of mana that she washed over it, her mind faded away to somewhere far away as she lost control of herself. Time itself became muddled and unclear as she slipped into nothingness.

---[]---

Pain surged though Verona's chest and face. Enough pain to drag her back to reality. She had no idea how much time had passed or even if it was night or day, nor even where she was. Her feet were no longer touching the ground and her mind told her that she was falling backwards. With a thump she landed on the ground, the pain from her head smacking into the hard ground brought her to full alertness.

“Ugh.” was all that Verona could groan. Her eyes were not working very well yet. An arm length was the best that she could see even vaguely well.

Her power, and the fire within her, still burned, but her limbs refused to obey her. A tingling, unlike the shiver that ran down her spine, ran through her body. She had never felt anything like it. And yet, it felt familiar, somehow.

With her limbs recovering she slowly started to pick herself up. The first thing she noticed was the smell. Something was burning, charring, but it smelt fouled. Her chest was hot. A quick brush over with her hand revealed that it was covered in soot, even a few pieces of the leather had started to peel away. This should not be happening for some time, and that would be if Verona did not take care of it. Had she set it on fire somehow? That was not within her power.

“What happened?” she asked, her voice still weak from whatever transpired.

“Are you back?” Anton asked. His voice sounded a little pained and weak too.

“Did I go somewhere? I thought I just passed out.” she hauled herself to sit upright. Her eyes were beginning to focus on the ground infront of her.

It was horrific.

Her blood shards were everywhere. Each of the ten fragments had turned into long and thin spears, now driven into the ground randomly throughout their little practice area. Where Anton stood there was one. Through her blood power she could feel even more blood.

Oh no...

With all the strength she could muster she stood up and pulled the crystals back into a sphere. Anton groaned as the spear left him. It had gone through his foot and into the ground below.

“Verona?” he asked again.

“I...I'm sorry!” she blurted out, standing up and staggering back. Her legs were still weak, they failed to support her weight and she fell back onto the ground. “I didn't! I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!”

With another pulse of her mana they reformed into the single large blood sphere. She pushed it away as far as she could and let her control waver. The blood splashed onto the ground and mixed with the dirt and grass. Now most of it was beyond her control.

Pain, fear and shame washed over her as she stared blankly at the ground. Even though the tingling sensation was gone, she could not bring herself to move any further. She was completely and utterly stunned.

“Are you back?” he asked, slowly walking towards her. She could see, and feel, the blood leaking out of his foot. Small trails of his blood, that she had caused, stuck to the grass with each step.

There was a wetness to her eyes. She brought her fingers up to find tears in the corners of her eyes. She was a few moments from attacking someone she loved when she was certain that she was getting better at controlling herself. The more she thought about it the closer she came to crying uncontrollably. Only the shock of what she had just done kept her from doing so. The shame was starting to win over, every silent moment brought her closer to bawling. He brought one hand down to his foot. Another moment later it was healed. Now he could walk normally, though Verona could still feel the fresh blood that had spread from the wound.

“Ugh, yeah.” she stammered out, wiping away both eyes full of tears, forcing herself to not cry through deep breaths. “I didn't even really know that I was gone until...I thought I was getting it right. I...”

“Something happened,” Anton said as he walked up to her and sat down next to her. She tried her best to shuffle away, to make sure she was not too close, but he refused to let her, “After you closed your eyes your whole body started to glow even brighter, and then you reformed the blood into those little needles.”

Verona wanted to punch herself in the head for what had just happened.

I should have kept my eyes open. Open to see what I was actually doing, especially since I don't know what I'm doing and definitely since I don't really know how this power works. I may not have lost it if I saw the world start to slip away....

I feel like utter shit.

“I'm sorry.” She mumbled again, forcing herself again to not burst into tears. “I should have been keeping a better watch on my surroundings.”

Anton waved her down, putting his hand onto hers. She tried to flinch away, just like she had done when he returned to Atros, but held herself steady. He was trying his best to help comfort her, even after she had just attacked him, and she should not be angry at him.

“Nothing bad happened, so it's fine.”

“It's not fine! I just attacked you!” She stared angrily into his face. “I tried to kill you!”

“Wel...I suppose. But I...” there was some apprehension to his face. “I, kind of, had to attack you as well. To get you to stop.”

That stopped her near bawling as she looked him over. He nodded to her chest, specifically the piece of armor that lay there. With her eyes more or less recovered, she inspected it properly. On the front was a large charred circle, the same place that she had wiped her fingers over and smeared them with soot.

“You...You used your magic on me?” she knew that her tone was almost petulant, but it was all that she could manage. Anything to distract her a little from what happened. “What was it? It can't have been the fire magic, so you must have used the lightning.”

“Who says I didn't use my prayer power to bring you back?” he asked, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Verona took that seriously, searching her memories for the answer.

“Tethra, your prayer goddess,” she began, “Doesn't seem like a bad person.”

She knocked her fist on the center of the scorch mark.

“This doesn't seem like a healing prayer, or that thing where it made my eyesight really, really good.”

He smiled. “No, it wasn't that. But the prayer power does have other uses.”

Verona threw a quizzical brow. Doing so revealed to her that her power was still working. She took a deep breath and extinguished the fire. Anton had no visible change to that, but she did feel better knowing that he did not have to look into the same red eyes that were attacking him a moment ago.

“Like what?” she was glad to be talking about anything else but what had just happened.

“Well, I think it can be used to repair things as well.” he said. “Among other things.”

“But that's what it already does. Like when I heals me, or anyone else, it's putting it all back together as how it should be.”

Anton nodded.

“Yeah, sort of. But, I think it can do other things as well. Like creation.”

He placed his other hand onto the scorched armor and closed his eyes. Verona gave him a look, as the marks were very close to her breasts, like he was trying to grope them through the armor. Nothing happened for quite some time, Verona just stared at the mark underneath his hand. From his hand outwards the leather armor began to change. Like water soaking into the dirt the leather began to fix itself, the dark marks turned back to light and the bent and upturned flakes settled back into line with the rest of the armor.

It was astounding to watch. A few more breaths later and the whole piece of armor looked like new. He took his hand away and breathed a sigh of relief. She knew the look on his face, doing what he just did took quite a bit of his own mana.

“How much did you just use?” she asked, realizing that she should have asked how he was feeling.

“Quite a bit.” he explained. “But, it did fix it. I guess it can fix just about anything then...”

She gave it a thump, it sounded like it always did.

“So it can 'heal' things as well as people.”

Anton nodded.

“That and maybe a few more things. Though, we need to get yours under control first.”

She looked back down at where the scorch mark was but a moment ago.

“You used the lightning magic?” she asked.

Anton looked away, a little embarrassed.

Why are you embarrassed? I tried to kill you, in whatever trance I was just in. I'm the one that's embarrassed.

“I did.” he admitted. “Remember...Do you remember early on when I arrived, when the Yellow Goblins breached the walls and were running through the village?”

Verona nodded.

“Yes. I killed a whole bunch of Yellow Goblins while I was in some sort of trance.”

“Like this one?”

She shook her head.

“I was still in control,” she began, “But it felt like someone else was guiding me.”

“Well, after we had dealt with the Goblins in the central plaza, we headed south and found some of them going after a woman and her daughter.”

“...I remember now.” her heart became more pained from the memory. “After that you got attacked-”

Anton squeezed her hand. Apparently he did not want to remember either.

“Before that, I used lightning magic but it only stunned the Goblins and the villagers, it didn't kill them.”

“Oh...” Verona realized what he was getting at. “So you did that to me?”

“Yeah. You didn't respond to anything I said. It looked like you were unconscious and still controlling the blood, head slumped to the side and staring into nothingness.”

Anton tilted his head to shower her.

“Everything went white. And I sort of lost track of everything. But it didn't feel wrong, like I couldn't even comprehend that it was wrong. I couldn't even think. That's how lost I became.”

Anton laughed nervously.

“I didn't know if it would be weak enough to just wake you up, and not kill you.”

Verona lent over and kissed him on the cheek, the bristles of his beard tickled her lips.

“You did what you needed to in order to break me out of....whatever that was.” She folded her arms and crossed her legs. “I won't be doing that again.”

“Out of curiosity, what did you do?”

“The source of where the odd feelings were coming from, I tried to sooth it with my mana.”

He looked down in thought for some time.

“Perhaps, perhaps your mana ended up feeding the issue than suppressing it. Sending you into a trance where you attacked the first thing you saw to get more blood. Like you were running on instinct.”

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.

“Which in this case was me.”

“I'm sorry about that.” she chuckled nervously.

Anton flexed his legs.

“It wasn't you. So, do you want to keep going?”

She looked within herself, lighting the fire within, and found that the feeling had returned at the same intensity before she had tried to soothe it. She had to control it. Otherwise she may never be allowed to fight again, though that would probably be her decision.

“I do.” she said as she puffed out her chest. “I have to.”

It was an act of confidence but it helped.

He was close enough to wrap his arms around her and pull her into a warm embrace. It was different to normal, more tender and trying to reassure her that everything would be alright. She took a moment, just to enjoy the sensation, before forcing a little room in-between them.

“I need to keep going. To keep trying no matter what happens.” she said defiantly. “I need to understand this. So I don't become a burden and unable to fight.”

As she said the words the shiver almost disappeared. Even Anton knew that something had just happened. Something had just wakened the feeling, and it was not Anton or herself. It came from outside.

“What was that?” he asked quietly, releasing her and taking a few steps back. It was not out of fear but he wanted to give her some space. “Besides, you're not a burden to anyone.”

“I chose the wrong words.” Verona broke out into a awkward smile. “I...Jira...Jira said that I needed to 'master' and 'understand' my power.”

Anton nodded, but he could not see where she was going with this. Neither did Verona, if she was being completely honest.

“I haven't done very well so far, and I know it'll take more than half a day. But, part of understanding my power is understanding where it came from. Why I asked for it in the first place.”

“It was so that you could protect...” he did not want to say it out aloud.

Verona found herself flushing as she remembered the reasoning.

“Yes...but maybe it's more than that. When I said and thought those words, the shivering stopped...I don't really know why... Jira might just be giving me a little hint...maybe.”

Verona closed her mouth and looked within herself, keeping her eyes open so that she would still be able to see the what was happening around her.

Did I really mean that, a burden? No. It wasn't that. It was something else. Like...Like I would not be able to fight.

Is it that I won't be able to protect? Is that it? And not just myself or Anton, Everyone. Even the people that don't like me or are afraid of me. Even if that's what I didn't get my power for, it's what I should be using it for.

Nothing seemed to change. Now she was getting angry at it.

Well, whatever it is, I'm pissed off at you that you're getting in my way of helping myself and other people. And I'm not going to let you, whatever this feeling is, stop me from doing what I can!

With all her might she surrounded and crushed down on the source. It buckled and cracked but it did not disappear, the mana did not have time to soothe over the area before it broke. The shivering all but disappeared. It remained though, at the back of her mind, but nowhere as bad. When she released her constriction of the feeling the shivering returned, when she refocused it diminished again. Now it was considerably more easy to keep it under control, though she had to focus some of her energy on keeping it as it was. The drain seemed to have stopped as well. Part of her problem was now literally broken, though she had no idea what would happen to her in an actual battle.

One step at a time I suppose.

She smiled wildly, to let Anton know it was okay. He relaxed as he looked her over.

“I, may have found something.” Verona began. “The urge has gone, for now.”

Anton looked straight into her eyes.

“It's still there...a little bit. I'm keeping it under control. It's not using any of my mana but it's taking a bit of my mind to keep it that way. But, I think I'm beginning to understand a little bit of how this power is supposed to be controlled." She scratched her head. "Maybe. I honestly don't know if it will even work the next time I use my power.”

“That sounds...possible.” Anton offered. “Although, I doubt that's all there is to it. I've still got a lot to figure out with mine.”

“Me too.” she glanced up at the sun. “And we've still got some time. Can we keep going?”

“Of course.”

Verona reformed the crystal sphere, of what little blood she could control, infront of her, breaking it into its smaller parts. As she floated the shards around the feeling came back. She focused on controlling the urge, and not just pushing it down and away. The shivers subsided. They was much easier to control now, though it did make her control over her blood shards more sluggish. Was there a way to do both? If she was going to find out she would need to keep working.

“Well, that might not be it completely...” she pulled the crystals back into a sphere and moved it to one side. “Did you ever get some help from your gods? Like a little hint or something? I think Jira might have just decided to help me a litte...after letting me attack you.”

Anton nodded.

“The first time I used the fire rings, those giant pillars of fire that came out of the ground. I asked Esperit, the goddess of fire, for help. She helped me understand a bit better of how my magic works, like a guide. It also gave a better idea how to use my magic.”

“Huh.” Verona nodded. “I think that might be what just happened to me. Not a complete thing but a push in the right direction. I'll need to keep working on it though.”

“Perhaps something like meditation practice help.” Anton offered.

Verona cocked her head, letting him know that she did not completely understand.

“Since you seem to have that urge whenever your using your power, it being the strongest when you use the crystal form, it might be a good idea to spend some time just focusing on that. Take a quiet space and just test out new forms of your power and keep a good mental, and literal, eye on it. Practicing all the time so you'll be ready for your first battle.”

She thought more deeply about it and nodded.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Anton smiled, looking up towards the sun. She looked up as well.

“We've still got some time before lunch, I would like to keep going. I don't want to stop once we've got something good going."

“On another point, how well do you think you'll handle with tasting the blood.”

“Oh, gods no.” Verona replied, waving her hands and shaking her head. “I've barely got this under control as it is. That...that might be something that I can ever stop.”

She shrugged.

“Besides, all I need to do is not get it in my mouth. I didn't feel anything when it got on my skin.”

“Like a mask of some kind?” Anton offered. "That could stop that."

“Yeah. I used a cloth to cover my mouth but that didn't work that well when the fighting got really intense. Blood and claws were coming at my face and it just got torn off. I'll need something better, that won't interfere with my ability to fight.”

Anton looked into the sky before looking back with a smile. That meant he had thought of something.

“We'll think about it later, but for now keep practicing. I'll be right here if something happens."

Verona nodded enthusiastically. She sat down on the grass, brought the crystal sphere infront of her, and began to practice again.

---[]---

Anton watched Verona in silence, watching her manipulating the blood crystal. It seemed that she was determined to bring, whatever it really was, under control. She was not going to leave until she got a good handle on it.

It had turned into a very scary session. It all seemed to be going so well until she started to pass out while still using her power. He called out to her many times but all it did was succeed in making her more angry while she was stuck in her dreamlike trance. She was not awake, that was for certain, when she reformed the crystals into the long slender needles and tried to attack him.

There was no plan or skill used when she was in that form, only a raw desire to attack him. Like it was a primal part, a part of her that was only instinct and not capable of higher thought. Not even his shout of pain, when she stabbed him through the foot, managed to wake her up or give her any change in emotion. Only a weakened bolt of lightning to her chest stopped her.

He was a little shamed that he had to attack her to get her to wake up but it all worked out in the end. Though it was a little shameful to say so, it did give him a chance to experiment more with his prayer power to repair the damaged armor. It was just a shame that it required nearly hurting someone he deeply cared about. Worse was that he did not know if he could the power of his lightning down so it would only hurt rather than kill. His magical strength and control had grown since he used it such a manner. It was a bit of a gamble.

Nevertheless, he was glad that she was alright. His own injury did not feel that bad when it happened. Especially when he knew that he could just use his prayer power to make it better. That was a constant theme with him.

Whatever happened to her she now seemed to be in control of it.

As he thought that a pained twitch overcame her face, the crystal shards shuddered but remained where they were. She took a deep breath, furrowed her brows, and began to move them again.

Well, she's getting there. I don't really have a way telling her what to do. I mean, I could use my mana to 'investigate' her body again, but if what she said was true, about her soothing the area with mana, mine might just make her go ballistic again. Perhaps even worse, I don't know how much mana I have compared to her.

I think there's not a lot I can do now, except be right here for support.

Over the next little while Verona shapped the blood crystals into a number of creations to demonstrate and test out her control. Some were of a flower while others were random shapes. The longer she practiced the less twitches and stops she had.

Nearly an hour passed before Verona made any movement not related to controlling the crystal shards. Her head turned to one side, towards the small forest that Kal had disappeared into. For a brief moment he thought that she had lost control of her power again.

“I...I can smell blood coming towards us.” Verona said, bringing the dancing and folding shards back into a sphere.

“Smell or feel?” Anton sought to clarify.

“Feel.” she answered with a nod towards him. “I can tell there's fresh blood that's not under my control. That's how I was able to find those people in the mountain.”

Anton hummed. The less he remembered about that place the better. Verona even looked a little apologetic, though it was not her fault for bringing it up. He stood up and looked towards the north. Sure enough, he could see a figure walking through the long grass roughly towards them. It was covered in cloth wrappings and wore a long cloak.

“Kal's got whatever she needs to do, done.” Anton said, Verona looked up at him. “Looks like she's coming here rather than heading back to Atros.”

Verona shrugged. “Makes sense. She might still be a little nervous about going there all by herself.”

A thought flashed over her face.

“Do you think she heard the lightning?”

“If she's got as good hearing as I think she does, yes. Do you know why she's so scared of lightning? I haven't been able to get it out of her yet.”

Verona shook her head.

“Not yet. But she makes the difference between normal lightning from the sky and yours. Says that she knows where yours comes from so that makes it okay.”

Anton hummed, looking over towards Kal. She had seen them and was making a straight line towards them.

I guess I already knew that, that whatever it was happened during the storms. Whatever it was it must have been pretty terrible.

Kal gave him a wave, which he returned.

One day, once everything settles down I'll see if we can have a talk about it. It would be nice if she could share.

Verona kept practicing until the last moment, only when Kal was within speaking distance did she stop. She put the blood back into the clay pot, turned off her power, and laid down on the ground. He had not noticed before but she had been using her power constantly, and heavily, for over an hour. It was no wonder that she was tired. They also had none of the Karak fruit with them. For now, she would have to recover the normal way, though he felt that she was putting it on a bit.

“Did I hear your lightning magic?” Kal asked as she approached, taking a quick survey of the surroundings, “I don't see any Kobolds or...Goblins.”

Anton and Verona looked at one another. Both their faces said to one another that it was too embarrassing to say the truth.

“It...It was part of the training.” Verona said, hauling herself up to her sitting position. “Helped me focus.”

That was sort of the truth, so Anton did not add to it. Kal seemed to accept it.

“Did you get everything you wanted?”

Kal took a moment before answering.

“Yes. Yes I did.” she said.

There was something different about her, in more ways that one. She seemed happier and more confident, but there was something else. Something more physically different. She reached behind and pulled out a small cloth bag, attached to her quiver belt, handing it to Anton.

“I...I know it's not much, compared to what you have in Atros, but it's what I managed to gather over my time wandering.” Her voice was light and fluttery, something he had not heard from her.

Anton accepted the bag and looked inside. He was quite surprised at how heavy it was and how many coins were inside.

“How much is it?” Verona asked, still refusing to stand while taking deep breaths to calm herself.

“I think it's about thirty or forty silver coins and about the same in copper.”

He bounced the bag in his hands, letting the coins rattle.

“This is very impressive, Kal.”

Kal looked very happy, her ears pulled back and her tail started to move in happiness. Verona lent to the side to try and get a better look, grumbling when she realized that the cloak was still covering her behind.

“Th...Thank you. I did my best over the winters.” Kal fought down a light flush. She turned to Verona. “How is your training going? It seems to be going well.”

Verona chuckled and finally got to her feet. She dusted off the few leaves and blades of grass that had stuck to her clothes.

“It's going...” she looked at Anton. “Okay, I suppose. It's not going to be a quick thing to learn or master. But, I'm getting better at it.”

She smiled nervously at Anton.

“I had no idea how close I was to falling off the edge.”

Anton nodded. Only her mental strength was able to keep herself together when she was using her power, and they had still yet to see how she would perform in an actual battle. He hoped she would be alright. Verona coughed awkwardly, trying to halt the melancholic air that had developed.

“Enough of that bad talk.” Verona clapped her hands as moved closer to Kal.

Something on Verona's face screamed trouble as she stared at her cloak. Kal looked quite concerned and took a step back, she glanced to Anton who looked on concerned.

“Your cloak...” Verona said, pointing to the bottom.

“Oh. Right.”

Anton looked, there was blood on it. Judging from the color it was very fresh.

She had been fighting?

“You were in a fight?” Anton asked worryingly. “You should have told us right away.”

Verona nodded as well. Kal stammered and fiddled with her her hair. Now he realized what was wrong. The cloth on her hands and legs were different. They looked new; the dirt, dried blood and frayed ends of the cloth wrappings had gone. The cloak appeared to still be the same.

“It must have been a bit of a fight.” Anton said, catching Kal's attention. “For you to have to change your...clothes.”

Kal nodded. “A few Goblins had made a home in the cave. I snuck up and killed them.”

“What type?” Verona asked desperately. “Color? How many? Any sign of more lurking about?”

Kal looked bewildered by the barrage of questions that Verona unleashed upon her. Anton moved to Verona and patted her on the shoulder. She relaxed a little, realizing that she may have been a little harsh on Kal.

“Sorry.” she said, “Those things get me pretty mad. Them and the Kobolds. They're the reason that everything went bad around here.”

Kal relaxed as well, taking a deep breath.

“There were....six Green Goblins. All male, so they won't be able to breed without a female. They're probably cast aways from the main group.”

“So that means there are some nearby.” Anton looked over to the small forest. “In that direction...ish?”

Kal looked as well, he could feel some apprehension from her but did not know why.

“There probably would be. More to the north east probably. But, they would be quite some distance away. The outcasts don't settle down anywhere near where they were thrown out from.”

She turned back and smiled at them.

“Greens don't live in big groups either, so they shouldn't be a real threat to Atros. You have more than enough soldiers and archers to fend them off.”

That was a relief. He did not want to go through again. Most of the recent lives of the villagers of Atros had been spent under a state of siege.

“That's good to know.” Anton said. “Though, now that we are no longer under siege and we almost have two thousand people, and lots more weapons and supplies, I think we should resume some light scouting of our area, about a days ride or so at most. Make sure that no Goblins or whatever else sneak up on us.”

Both girls nodded enthusiastically.

Anton looked back up at the sky. The sun was about in the middle of the sky.

“I'm pretty much done for now.” Verona said, stretching out both of her arms. “I don't have much of my mana left. We didn't bring any of that Karak fruit with us and I'm pretty hungry.”

“I think it's safe enough to call it lunch. Do you want to come back with us now?” he asked Kal.

She nodded. He moved over to Verona and offered an arm, which she accepted. Slowly they moved back to Atros. Kal walked infront, he did not miss the happiness that appeared in every step she took. A pull on his shirt made him look down at Verona. For a moment he was sure that she was going to reprimand him for staring at Kal's backside, but instead she looked at him worryingly.

“More than what she's letting on happened in that cave.” she said in the softest whisper.

Anton knew that Kal had much better hearing than either of them, but the wind was blowing quite hard. The rustling of the grass and the whistling of the wind should drown out their words.

“Why do you say that?” he asked.

“It's not that she changed her clothes, it's that there's more than Goblin blood on her.”

He glanced at her, her eyes were not red.

“I...I don't know. I used my power just for a flicker of a moment when she was looking at you, and...it felt like there was a difference in the blood. Like a...taste. It's hard to describe. But, I think there's more to it than just a few Goblins.”

He looked forward at Kal. She gave away nothing that she had heard what had been said.

“I'm sure there's a reason for it. She doesn't seem like the sort of person that would just do something because she can.”

Verona nodded. “But...”

"We'll just have to wait until she decides to tell us on her own." he said. "She might never, there are some things people don't want to ever say."

Verona nodded, lightening the load she was placing on Anton. They all walked in silence back to Atros.

-------------

Howdy!

I wrote and edited it in about 3 or so days. I decided to block out everything and type...I hope it's up to standard and that all my future chapters follow that!

The chapter itself. Verona's trying to understand her power almost went out of control, but she's getting a handle on it. How much of it was Jira's interference for better or worse is still in the air. This chapter does not mean that she's got complete control, she's got about 2/10 of control right now, and that's in a non battle condition. Very little stess or the cacoghany of sound and blood from a battle. So, she's going to be doing a lot more magical practice, in and out of battle, and I hope to show the results of that as I go on. It's going to be a bit related to how Verona got her power, with Anton sort of forcing it through his magic, more on that when other people start to get theirs.

Kal is stretching the truth, and ommitting what she found, even though most of the evidence has been cleaned up. That will be coming up later as well.

Next chap will be more relaxed and planning out the continuing construction of Atros, as well as a trip north to the mines and the construction of the observation posts on the mountain. It's been a while, almost a month, since they've been able to check on the mountain....

Also, I was re-writting the plot thread for the first Arc, ad I realised that its very....bare. That could take a while to get a good plot with that and get rid of some of the critiscim about it.

That's it.

Thanks for reading. And thanks for any and all donations!