Chapter Nine: Ampyras

The first thing Emily noticed, was that the entire structure of the building had changed. The walls were so different, the base architecture just looked to be on a grander scale, and the floor felt so much sturdier. But then the air started to choke her, causing her to cough and splutter. Alien world, Alien climate, it seemed.

“Ohh, right. Forgot about that. The air is infinitely cleaner than it is in your world. The most polluted place in this world does not compare to the least polluted place on your planet. Your lungs are not used to such purity. It won’t kill you, I don’t think, but it will be a bit uncomfortable for a few hours. Now seems like a perfect time for a lesson on Qi, don’t you think?” Cancer asked. Emily’s eyes were watering at this point from the coughing, but she managed a glare at Cancer none the less. “Ohh, don’t be like that, you will thank me for it in a moment. Now, Mum will take a long time to pick this up, but you, I am sure, will have it down in no time. Right now is even the best time, I don’t need to generate a threat for you. You should feel something strange, like a ball of heat in your gut. It’s only really evident if you focus on it, but when you do, you should notice that the ball of heat grows until you can feel it throughout your entire body” Cancer tutored.

Not really in the mood for Cancer’s tricks while she was having such difficulty breathing, Emily tried to focus on actually getting a solid breath, but when Cancer mentioned the heat ball in her gut, Emily just couldn’t ignore it. Like telling someone not to look at a certain feature immediately draws their eyes to that feature. And as soon as her focus was upon it, the heat did as Cancer said it would and spread. In moments, it was if fire was her body. Then, the warmth faded to a soft tingle, and her lungs were suddenly fine.

“I…wow. Thought you said it would take a few hours” she muttered, slightly accusingly. Cancer just gave that broad smile she always gave, and Emily couldn’t feel any negative emotion towards her while she smiled like that.

“For your mother, at least. For you, I merely pointed something out, and certain factors that would probably boggle your brain have come together to expedite the awakening of your internal spiritual energies, known collectively as Qi. What is currently at work is your benevolent energy, erroneously called the energy of the soul. They both come from your soul. Its name, is Chi, and it is an energy that allows for self-improvement and recovery” Cancer explained, taking her most beloved role as a tutor.

“Did I really need to know all the naming terminology for it?” Emily retorted, still a bit annoyed from the whole air incident.

“Actually, yes. Knowing what name to put to it allows you to utilize it more elegantly. If you don’t know what it is then you just have lax, instinctive uses. A good use of Chi is the ability to use it to temporarily kick-start another person’s Chi. You have to be careful with this however. If your Chi is considerably more potent than the Chi of the person you are currently helping, then you can cause them to die in a phenomena called Life Shock. Basically, their body can’t handle the sudden rush of wellness, and dies because of it. A good display of morbid irony, don’t you think? This is why I could not help you or your mother” Cancer was clearly relishing in being able to unload so much teaching onto Emily, but unfortunately the pleasure did not seem to be reciprocated. While Anne was struggling on the floor, only getting the bare minimum of breath to her lungs, and struggling uphill all the time, Emily pointed to her, rather angry.

“Couldn’t you have told me that sooner?” She barked, before storming over and taking her mother’s hands in her own. Not wanting to rely on Cancer for anything at the moment, she focused on her own, trying to make this warm feeling she had spread to Anne.

“Your…homeopathy…energy…bullcrap…is…not…going…to…help…here” Anne gasped, a fight to get each word out. Emily ignored her skepticism and focused. Like, one gear turning to get another to start moving, she tried to flow her own warm feeling into her mother’s hands. She gave all her focus to this task, and for a few minutes there was nothing but her mother’s coughing. But then, Emily felt like her body had suddenly lost all its weight, and the coughing stopped. Anne’s surprise was clear on her face, but it was replaced by worry as Emily passed out where she sat, and fell back into Cancer’s waiting arms.

“Probably should have mentioned. Chi is your life energy. You start dishing it out to everyone you meet, and don’t expect to stay conscious. Maybe later when you are more skilled, but right now you are on all or nothing” Cancer cooed to the unconscious Emily.

“Can…I give her mine? My…. whatever it is?” Anne asked Cancer. The Celestial Construct looked up, and shook her head softly.

“At this point, someone is being unconscious. You, or her. And she has a better chance of recovering without any negative effects, so my suggestion is just leave it be really” Anne seemed conflicted, but reluctantly accepted Cancer’s counsel and stood around awkwardly.

“If you wish, I can bring a friend to help you around the city. It’s a lovely place when you get to know it” Cancer offered, but Anne shook her head.

“No, I’ll stay with my daughter. It’s been a while since I was conscious enough to enjoy her presence, so I want to savor it now. Get as much time with her as I can, to make up for the time I lost” Anne put in, brushing Emily’s hair softly. Cancer watched with a soft smile, before suddenly piping up with a strange comment.

“I should get a daughter” it was quite a shock to Anne, who thought Cancer was a mature woman, and therefore already had a relationship.

“I thought you were already a mother. You’ve got an air of maturity to you that made me think you’d already had children” Anne still cradled Emily, but her focus was now on Cancer.

“Ohh, no. My work kept me far too busy for that. Only recently retired, and I haven’t really spent much time looking for a suitor. There are so few people that can court a girl these days, and one whiff of my nature and most run for the hills” Cancer explained. It didn’t do much for Anne, however, and that was when Cancer realized she had not really spoken about herself to Anne, only Emily. Following the confused look on the woman’s face, she decided to brush it off for now. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain later” she promised, before there was a knock at the door. “Stay with Emily. I’ll get it” She told Anne, who obliged.

As it turned out, when Cancer opened the door, it was not just some random person investigating the sudden activity in a house long abandoned, but the Tgoh Utmeradna of Ampyras. Such a spectacular visitor.

“What do I owe this pleasure, High Wielder?” Cancer asked, her voice angelic and formal.

“Well, when someone appears in the Capital City of the center of the Empire, unannounced, it makes one wary. You nearly had a squad of Exodus on your door, Lady Cancer. Maybe send a message beforehand if you wish to drop by?” The High Wielder, Rebecca, suggested. Cancer gave a soft smile in return. The subtle power plays between two extraordinarily powerful users of Magic was always amusing to Cancer. And when one of those held such an esoteric position of power like young Rebecca here, there was only more layers added.

“Well, I hadn’t the time to send a message. I needed to get my friends somewhere safe, and fast. My apologies for any disruption it might have caused” Cancer even gave a cute little curtsy to show her sincerity. Rebecca sighed softly and entered the house, following the two softly glowing flames to find a girl on the floor, and an older woman cradling her.

“And here I thought you were a monogamous girl. Hanging around San’s place too much?” Rebecca asked in a teasing tone. The respectful, official part was done with, and now they were friends again. And friends tormented each other for their own amusement.

“Look closer, Bec. The girl on the floor is more than just a harlot for debased pleasures” Cancer replied. The soft smoldering rage that rolled from Rebecca was enough to cause Cancer to grin. She hated her name being abbreviated, which made it such an easy target. Suppressing her anger, she turned to look at Emily, her beautiful purple eyes turning silver for a few moments. And then she let out a short gasp in shock.

“Yesura. But, I thought-” Rebecca started, before being cut off by Cancer, who put a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“We all thought. But it appears as though The Great Hand had other plans. And now she is back” Cancer stated, smiling with such a bright light. But it was not a light that was shared.

“What is to stop the exact same thing from happening again?! We went through hell when Yesura was corrupted the last time. We all loved her, none more than you, Cancer. You frigging retired from the Council itself after that war had finished. And yet you condone her continued survival? Are you that desperate for a few more moments with her before we have to put her down again?!” Rebecca asked, her tone loud and heated, and tears welling up in her eyes. Yesura was precious to everyone when she was alive. It was impossible to dislike her, and now that she had returned, there was more fear of her lost again rather than happiness that she had returned.

“I made sure to keep an eye on her since birth, in many differing guises” Cancer replied, but before she could get to much further, Anne came over, having propped Emily’s head up on a pillow.

“What are you two talking about? It seemed to be quite heated so I thought I’d come over” she stated, looking at the two with the blissful confidence of ignorance. If she knew a billionth of what the two women in front of her were capable of, she’d dig a hole and hide there for the rest of her life.

“Stuff about the Universe. Are, you sure you want to enter this world, Anne? There is no return once you do” Cancer warned.

“It seems to be about my daughter. So yes, I will do anything for her” Anne replied. Cancer smiled at the conviction, and nodded.