Chapter Thirty-One

Instead of investigating her surroundings, Elysia focused on what was important, her family. Sereia and Elysia glanced at one another, then focused on the curled up feline. They flooded the feline with images of the hunts she would miss out on if she gave up.

Ione twitched but remained curled up, though she sent back images of her claws failing to cut through various materials, each one crazier than the last. After the image showing her claws fail to dig into some soft dirt, causing Ione to slip and fail a hunt, Elysia put her foot down.

She kneeled down by Ione, using both hands to scratch between and around her ears while Sereia stroked Ione’s sides. “Your claws are still super sharp. Just because they failed to cut through that bully elemental’s stone, that doesn’t mean they dulled. Are you just going to give up? Why not work to improve yourself? If your claws are really unparalleled, you will overcome the bully elemental’s stone.”

Unable to resist the assault of dexterous fingers, a quiet rumble started, though she remained curled up. “Do you want to let the bully elemental win? Don’t give her the satisfaction. Work to beat her. Prove your claws are unparalleled.”

Suddenly the purr grew louder as Ione lifted her head and looked at her family, determination sparking in her eyes. She stood up, then growled when she noticed the collar.

Like Elysia and Sereia, the crystal began glowing the color of her element. However, before it even reached the same luminosity as theirs, a victorious chirp sounded as the collar clicked, then fell off her neck.

Smugness radiated through her as she looked up at her family, previous depression gone but not forgotten with her victory. Wanting her family to rid themselves of the shackle, she sent a series of images on how to unlock it.

According to Ione, all it took was a certain level of fine control, which she found trivially easy.

Naked without their magic at their fingertips, the twins sat cross-legged and delved inward.

Elysia focused on the bracelet, or as Ione called it, a shackle. It seemed to radiate a pressure which pushed down on any use of magic beyond automatic bodily functions.

She siphoned off a strand as a test, finding the pressure skyrocket the moment the strand left her core. A headache immediately assaulted her as she pushed against the pressure. She clamped down on the strand, trying to keep control, but it was like controlling two divine strands at once.

With a force of will, she moved the strand, but the moment she did so, a sharp pain speared through her head, causing her to lose control. Fortunately, the strand returned to her core without causing harm, but it took several seconds for her headache to die down enough for her to concentrate again.

If what Ione said was true, she needed to refine her control. She had to admit her control was shoddy, not that she would ever admit that to the elementals. Her single strand lightning bolts were far too powerful for most gentle applications, like messing with electronics.

As she tried with Umbra, she siphoned off another strand, regaining the headache but when she split the strand into two, the headache dimmed along with the pressure. Hope blossomed she pushed the unstable strands forward, but the pressure reasserted itself, causing her to lose control of the barely functional strands.

Still, despite her failure, it only pushed her to try again. This time, she focused on her core. While blocking her divine seed, she attempted to siphon off a smaller thread from her core, only for anything smaller than her standard strand to slip through her mental fingers.

It was as if her net had too large of holes. There had to be a way. If those damn elementals wanted to improve her control so badly, they should have told her how.

Though she supposed they did in their own way. As far as she could tell, the bracelet wasn’t some restraint like the ones she dealt with before but instead a training aid for the unwilling. If she had to guess, they probably used these on newborn elementals or something.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Maybe there was a reason for their methods. They could have assumed they were unruly young elementals.

That still didn’t excuse their actions, though. If they would’ve been friendlier and presented a training method, she might have agreed to go through with it. Though probably not if it involved something like this. It probably would’ve taken quite a bit of persuasion to lock some unknown bracelet on her, especially after her experiences with those cuffs.

Now with a clear head, she thought back on their interactions. As much as she hated to admit it, they probably pushed the elementals into what they did. It didn’t take much to provoke them to attack. Sure, they were on guard because of their experiences, but that didn’t mean they should have attacked so quickly.

She supposed they did act like unruly children attacking the moment the elemental threatened them, but who could blame them? Some uber powerful elemental trapped them in a box of stone.

Though even then, a clue presented itself. If she wanted to just crush them, she probably wouldn’t have isolated herself from her entourage. It was all the test to see how they would react and going by their current predicament, they failed.

Even if she was right about her assumptions, that didn’t mean she would forgive them so easily. The elemental could have been friendlier. If they treated them like newborn elementals, she could say the same thing about them. Why couldn’t they talk like civilized people instead of pushing them into attacking?

It was probably some elemental thing they were out of the loop on. The more elementals she met, the more she realized she had a long way to go before she understood her race. There seemed to be a clear hierarchy her instincts rebelled against, which probably didn’t help with their confrontation. Or maybe it did. She had no idea.

It was pointless to speculate without knowing more. All she knew was they didn’t seem to mean them harm and had some connection to Urus. Based on her comments, they communicated recently, probably through Urus’s brother, who floated in the harbor. She hated being out of the loop.

Elysia released a sigh and returned her focus on her core. She siphoned off a single-strand then quickly split it in half. Instead of trying to keep control of both, she pushed one of the halves back into her core, then focused all her attention on the other half.

Without the headache and minimal pressure, it didn’t take her long to smooth out the strand, putting it completely under her control. She moved it, but a pressure pushed it back. Despite the temptation to push against the pressure, she remembered the elemental’s comment. Brute force wouldn’t get her anywhere.

Instead, she pulled the strand back toward her core, then split it again and repeated the process to create a fully under control strand a quarter the size of her normal strands.

Again, she pushed it forward. The strand reached her shoulder before the pressure kicked in, causing her to retreat to her core to split the strand once more. She stabilized the strand, though the weak strand looked to be on the verge of fizzling out.

It felt weaker than her first lightning attacks. She doubted a strand so weak would hurt anyone beyond level 10, but that wasn’t the point of the strand. It might have applications in electronics, though she wouldn’t trust it with sensitive applications. Still, it was progress. Now the question was if it was enough progress.

As she moved the strand, she heard a click and thud followed by a cheer announcing her twin’s success, which only bolstered her determination. When she reached her elbow, she felt a slight pressure, but it was so weak she ignored it and continued on. The strand soon made its way to the bracelet and entered it. A click sounded, but it was barely audible, much quieter than what she heard from Sereia or Ione, causing her to frown. She opened her eyes and looked down at her bracelet to find it still locked on her wrist.

Elysia refused to give up. She returned her attention internally and siphoned off a strand, immediately noticing a difference. The pressure felt much weaker. Before she could barely hold on to a normal strand, now it felt similar to when she held a strand half the size.

At this discovery, she split the strand in half, then pushed it forward. The pressure didn’t push her back until she reached her shoulder, solidifying her theory. Upon splitting it one more time, she reached the bracelet, eliciting a slightly louder click but again the bracelet refused to budge.

Undeterred, she repeated the process with a half strength strand yet again, reaching the bracelet without trouble, but still it refused to unlock. When she siphoned off a regular strand, she didn’t feel any pressure prompting her to send it toward the bracelet. This time a much louder click sounded, then the weight left her wrist, causing her to jump to her feet with a bright smile.

She scanned the room to find it empty, causing her to frown, but a prod of her bond directed her to the right. A door engraved with violet and bluish green lines sat at the other end of the room. Since her family didn’t seem to be in danger based on the curiosity bordering on excitement radiating through their bond, she felt no rush.

Instead of rushing through the door, she scanned the expansive room. There was a picnic table pushed against the wall next to the door, but other than that there was just open space in the basketball court sized room probably meant for training.

Just because it was empty, that didn’t mean it wasn’t extravagantly decorated though. Violet and blue green lines ran in intricate patterns through the stone around the entire room, including the floor, causing her to frown. Did they expect them? Though going by how strong the earth elemental was, it probably wouldn’t take them long to build such a room.

Done with her investigations, she trotted toward the door. Upon opening it, she froze. If the training room was extravagant, this was beyond anything. Fluffy white carpet ran throughout what she could only describe as a modern hermit paradise. A massive TV bordering on a movie theater took up most of the right side of the room, with every console and a computer glowing with violet and blue green.

Of course, that was where she found Seraia. She didn’t need her bond to know her twin’s excitement. Sereia was practically vibrating as she shot from one electronic to the next, bouncing on each chair and couch as she went.

Elysia could only shake her head as she turned to investigate the rest of the room. Only to freeze as she took in the paradise before her. Every surface looked fluffy, with several fluffy violet and blue green pillows covering just as fluffy couches and chairs. There were even a few oversized pillows large enough to fit all three of them at once. Along the walls were bookshelves half filled with colorful books, probably for Sereia. The other half had more plain colored books, likely technical or informational in nature.

However, what really caught her eye was the crown of the entire paradise. At the center of the fluffy paradise, right where it belonged, was a display case filled with thousands of pieces of chocolate. It looked so beautiful she almost didn’t want to disturb the display, but chocolate was meant to be eaten.

With a force of will, she tore her eyes away from that side of the room and prodded her bond with Ione.

Near the center of the room, opposite the door leading to the training room, she found a hallway. Curious, she trotted down the hall filled with several doors.

Despite her temptation, she skipped the door engraved with violet lines, obviously meant for her in favor of the door engraved with trees. Upon pushing open the door, she froze yet again. Defying logic, a forest laid on the other side of the door.

Overwhelmed, she stumbled back, then retreated to the main room. This was too much. How and why would they make this? Were they trying to butter them up? Was it an apology? It didn’t make sense.

Right on cue, the sources appeared. A familiar brown dressed woman accompanied by a man wearing a simple T-shirt and jeans.

Upon locking eyes with him, any simplicity vanished as just one look in those unfathomable constellation filled eyes gave her a headache.

She broke eye contact as she crossed her arms, glaring at the duo, though she made no hostile movements as she knew that would end badly.