Chapter 157

Brenna

Keeping A Promise

As the three made their way back through the fields they had charged through less than a day ago, the fields all looked the same, but different. While certain markers were easily noticeable, they were odd or misleading when Brenna attempted to view them from a different direction.

The entire process seemed odd, she both knew and simultaneously doubted her enhanced senses. During this trek back, Brenna let her mind wander. She used this time to focus on her craft, on improving the way she felt the very earth beneath her feet.

With each step, Brenna felt the resonance of the earth bouncing with her feet. Each step spoke of the ground letting her know the places she was going. With this resonance she knew she was going the correct way, or at least a familiar way. Despite her eyes telling her contrary, her mind was telling her the way forward, the way she had come. There was of course more, she was on the verge of a huge discovery.

At the same time, she also knew that Lykan himself was close to his own discovery as well. He flew overhead and seemed to be in his own flying trance. Kosha who was still on his back, now no longer looked like she was miserable from the wind whipping her face. Instead, there seemed to be a way that the air itself moved with Lykan and Kosha in tow.

Just looking at the way the two were moving, it was clear that Lykan had made some kind of epiphany to the wind. This epiphany was of course causing the other elemental forces of the world to cry out. As the very earth below Brenna’s feet cried out and attempted to exert their own force.

This was an odd concept, for it almost seemed to Brenna that the very earth itself was jealous, or at least trying to show dominance the way a predator would. When that predator would feel another predator coming close to their domain. The entire experience was both comical and revealing to Brenna. For up until this point, she had thought the elements to be formless entities. Yet, with this new revelation into the nature of elements, she had a few questions come to life. Her first and primary question was, were the elements alive? Meaning, could they truly have complex emotions, or was this a natural process that came from opposing elemental forces coming in close contact with each other.

A second question that came to mind was, is this a sign of the world coming to life with qi? Meaning, now that they were both becoming more and more powerful with qi, is this something they could expect to increase as the world continued to be corrupted by qi. Or probably more troubling, were these the signs of the world making one last attempt at showing signs of life, before it eventually succumbed entirely to qi.

These were the primary thoughts that Brenna had while they made their way to the original meeting site. A site that the three of them were supposed to have visited four days prior. In her own way, Brenna also wondered if these types of deep reflections of the world were a part of her own thoughts, or if they were influenced by the styles and teaching of Lykan.

She also made a note to go over these very thoughts with Lykan, as she felt they would help her develop a new way to evolve her qi core. While the core she utilized had long ago drifted away from the one used by Lykan, she still gained a lot of her initial insights from Lykan. Additionally, with Lykan as a source for inspiration, she always found the need to continue pushing herself forward, lest she find herself hindering Lykan’s progress. That was something she herself could not handle.

While she knew Lykan no doubt would slow down, or likely even stop his own personal progression to stay with Brenna. That was not the future she wanted for their relationship. As such, she took these rare moments of clarity and insight when they presented themselves to her.

She was of the earth, meaning her inspiration needed to be related to the earth. She needed to try to become one with the earth, the same way Lykan was one with the air, and currents.

There were many facets of the earth that she was aware of. There were the different types of waves of energy that could travel through the earth. There were the ways metals now seemed to resonate from the very land itself. This was a skill her family would have killed for, being able to detect rare metals and gemstones in the land was a skill of legend for her kind. Yet, here she was, able to perform that very task. Here moving through the woods, she could tell how dense pockets of metal lay decaying from a previous form, deep under the earth. These were likely monuments and other objects that existed before the fall, before even the initial scattering of the different tribes of man.

Brenna’s latent ability to identify pockets of metals, while untested, was still something she believed in. She could literally feel the resonance and frequencies that the different metals of the earth seemed to vibrate at. Such a skill in the dwarven capitals around the world would be enough to let her live like a queen. Yet, she had nothing, or next to nothing. Still despite her relative lack of resources, she was content. She had an abundance of what she needed most to feel satisfied. She had Lykan, and then Kosha who was like a daughter, or at the very least a little sister.

It was clear from Lykan’s body posture and his own emotions that he too was feeling distraught over what they were going to do. Who they were going to meet, and what the purpose of this delayed meeting was for. She was going to lose a part of herself, or at least that was her concern.

While Kosha had only been part of their group for a little over a week now, her presence and importance to their team dynamics and chemistry was undeniable.

Worse, the closer they got, the more signs of life were present. In the clearing, where they were told to meet a lone figure awaited. While Brenna had expected more, the number of people assigned to continue to wait, day after day had likely dwindled.

Still as they approached Brenna felt a sense of dread building up within her. This was the form of inevitability, a sign that her life was about to change. To keep her mind distracted, she tried to focus on her recently gained insights into the nature of earth. She found signs of multiple people coming and going over multiple days. She found signs that wild creatures of the forest had taken to avoiding the clearing, where the lone figure now waited. She thought she could even begin to feel the different paths the varying creatures of the forest would take. Humans would take the straighter paths, while the animals and wildlife seemed to prefer the smoother paths. While the two types of paths could be one and the same, they were not always the exact same paths.

For instance, humans would go over lay lines and natural resonance points without much notice. While the animals seemed to be far more aware of their surroundings and aware that the earth contained such energy sources. A part of Brenna’s mind made a note of these natural energy formations, both as a potential concept point for her cores, and as a point to evaluate more thoroughly later. The idea of lay lines was interesting to Brenna. For it seemed to either imply a unique power format that the earth had to itself, or that all the elements had such lines or points of power.

While she could not directly conceive of how lay lines would exist in the air, she made it a mental note to bring up to Lykan later.

Of course, all of these thoughts were just distractions, ways to keep her mind occupied.

A part of Brenna’s heart stopped, when she saw Lykan descend right to where the person was awaiting. Seeing that the two were already meeting with the one lone waiting individual, Brenna slowed her pace. Her reason for slowing her pace was simple, she wanted to use her newfound understanding and control over earth to see what was happening. Given that she already knew the nature of the meeting, she figured she could determine what happened from the very earth itself.

If she could learn to harness this functionality with confidence, then no one could sneak up on her. This would also give her a much larger range to work with. Even now she could clearly see, or at least be aware of individuals who were easily over a kilometer away from her.

Focusing she began to stand still, slowing her momentum entirely. Then she chose to wait, to feel the signs of what was happening. To feel the distinct indications of how the conversation the three were having was going.

Brenna wanted to stay, but then thought better of her actions. She didn’t want to be remembered by Kosha as the one who didn’t say goodbye.

Realizing this, she took off like a shot.

Rumble.

The ground shook and vibrated with each thunderous step she took. She did not want to miss the moment. She did not want to be known as the person who was too afraid to say goodbye, even though she was. In a way she was jealous of Lykan, he could easily handle these situations. He would never reveal his true emotions, or at the very least he would not let his own personal emotions cloud his reasoning skills. To him, it was more important that the right decision was made, than the decision he would want to have happen. In that way he could shut himself off from the world and do what was needed over what was wanted. Of course, when it came to what was needed, Lykan often missed a few key points. Often choosing what others would need, over his own personal needs.

Brenna realizing this, thought she should fight against this. That she would need to be the voice of reason, a voice that would speak out, when Lykan could not.

This was all based on her own personal wants. That said, this was but a second time when she was more than willing to put her own wants and concerns ahead of others. That she would be the one to speak the truths that everyone wanted to hear, but others were too afraid to speak of.

Of course, this was what she concluded before she got to the clearing. This was before she saw the way Kosha interacted with the Cerusian representative. Honestly, she didn’t know what to expect when she entered the clearing. In her mind she foresaw everything from Kosha being coerced, to that Frenna Vita there not only luring away Kosha, but also trying to entice Lykan to go with her.

That was why when she entered the clearing her heart stopped as she saw the person, or rather doppelganger that Kosha was actively talking to. Lykan for his part looked just as confused as Brenna felt. While his face was as stoic and emotionless as ever, it was clear from his posture and body language that Lykan was at a loss.

In the clearing, staring at him, and having an animated conversation was Lykan’s younger brother. That or someone who could easily pass themselves off as being Lykan’s younger brother. The boy was lean, with dark hair and sharp features that spoke of how Brenna imagined Lykan looking when he was younger.

The only difference was the eyes, while Lykan’s eyes were powerful and spoke of years of hard work and self-sacrifice. The young man’s eyes that Kosha was chatting with excitedly were soft and gentle.

Looking at the boy, this doppelganger, it was clear that there might be more to the claim that Lykan had family with the Cerusians. At this revelation, Brenna stopped her forward progress as she just stood at the edge of the forest and waited.

Only a quick glance from Lykan, let her know that he was aware of her presence. She wondered how this was possible, but then realize he was likely using the wind, in the same way she was using the earth to detect people. She stood there; her body frozen in place as she awaited the outcome that now all but seemed inevitable. Particularly with the way Kosha smiled brightly at her own version of Lykan. A version that was somehow more human and approachable, than the real version.