At first it was complete darkness.

Wren had to take a couple minutes inside the mouth of the cave just to let his eyes adjust before he went any further. He didn’t want to face plant over a loose rock and crack his head open. That would be embarrassing, even if no one saw. After a while he could make out faint shapes around him, the odd stalagmite here and there, a largeish boulder. He even waved a hand in front of his face to make sure he could see it. He was surprised that he couldn’t see the band around his arm. It always seemed to glow when he looked at it, but in the darkness of the cave it was as if it wasn’t even there. It probably would be a pain if it glowed all the time, it would make stealth operations very difficult. Almost like a huge beacon screaming ‘here I am, come kill me’.

When he figured that his eyes had adjusted as much as he could, he moved on. He used his ears more than his eyes to move, following the sound of the stream, using it to guide his way in the darkness. He figured that if he just followed the water upstream he would come to another opening, hopefully somewhere with more light. After all, the water had to come from somewhere right?

He walked for about five minutes through the cave, tripping occasionally but catching himself just before he fell. He was pretty sure he’d bruised a toe or two, but what was that if not a sacrifice for exploration. They would be badges of honour, marks of his manliness, a story to tell the grandkids.

Who was he kidding, he’d just ache for a few days and go on with his life.

Finally, just as he thought about turning back and giving up on his little adventure, he spotted a dull glow coming from a few metres ahead of him, round a corner. The glow reflected off the stream, lighting it up and making it look like a path of water. After that it was considerably easier to make his way in the cave.

He rounded the corner and what he was presented with took his breath away. It was a lake. A large one at that. But that wasn’t what had stunned Wren so much. It was the fact that the entire lake was surrounded by glowing crystals embedded into the walls and ceiling. They shone a light blue that cast the cave in an eerie light, while also making it look incredibly beautiful. Above the centre of the lake, attached to the ceiling, was a crystal bigger than any of the others. Where the ones imbedded into the walls were fist sized, this singular crystal was about the size of a boulder, and shone brighter than any of the others. It was almost like a cold mini sun at the centre of the room.

It reflected off the surface of the lake, turning it a soothing aquamarine colour that flickered and sparkled with the ripples of the lake. Wren had half a mind to strip down completely and jump straight in, but after dipping a finger into the lake, he found it too be incredibly cold and decided to skip on that particular venture. Instead, he walked up to one of the crystals in the wall and began working it, trying to free it. It took a bit of work and a lot of pulling but once it was free he pocketed it. He figured that it would be a useful tool for getting out of the cave and he would no longer be kicking himself for not bringing a flashlight.

With the rock as a souvenir of his little cave adventure Wren wondered what to do from then on. Weirdly, he kind of wished that Liam and Carlos were with him to share in his find. No doubt Carlos would have something cutting and sarcastic to say about him taking a rock and Liam probably would have dove head first into the lake, despite it being so cold. But they weren’t there and Wren was alone. As he’d always been.

He thought back to Ash’s words just before she all but kicked him out of the armament training class. Using this this time to focus on his other lessons wasn’t such a bad idea. He figured he had quite a while until the end of the current lesson and this space was perfect for practice. It was nice and secluded so he wouldn’t have any interruption and there was enough room on the bank of the lake for any and all kinds of exercise he wanted to do as well. What did he have to lose by doing a bit of extra practice?

The first thing he did was sit down, cross his legs and blank his mind. Meditation was always the first step for any training. He listened for the wind, imagining it flowing through the cave out into the open expanse of the sky and felt it react to his energy. The familiar feeling of his EP coming alive in his body sent chills through him. He would never tire of this feeling. It was becoming easier and easier to awaken every day, Anastasia was right, the more he practiced, the more instinctual it became.

He touched the energy within him and guided it through his body, allowing it to go where it wanted to go. He felt it rush from his core, down through his torso and into his legs, it was a tingly feeling that was somehow both pleasant and uncomfortable, soothing yet dangerous. It was power. It moved back up through his body and sort of gravitated towards his palms. He focused on his right hand, if he was to have an accident then he wanted to at least have control over the direction it was headed. He figured the energy wanted to be released and would come out as a wind slice, but he made sure not to think about it too much. It all had to be natural.

But when it got to his palms, it made no effort to escape, it sort of just sat there, gathering. After a few seconds, the energy stopped gathering, and something clicked into place. It was like he was holding a ball of EP in his palm. He opened his eyes and that’s when he saw it. A shimmering sphere in his hand.

What was happening?