Chapter 75

I groaned as Aura and Delilah released their control over my perception just before I ran out of mana. Before we finished I had asked how long I had been inside, but Aura had told me it was best I didn't know. That way it didn't mess with my perception of time. Despite not knowing, I could tell we had been in there for a really long time. Thankfully despite the terrible method they used to train me, I was able to learn. I certainly wasn't a master of any of the elements, but I could now be considered skilled with my shadow fire and barely adequate with the normal elements. Though part of that was because of a change in our training plans after we started.

I looked around and had to admit, nothing had changed from before my training. It was kind of freaky.

"Master." Sil called out drawing my attention to her. "The monstrous satyrs are still heading this way, but the air feels odd."

I frowned before I remembered the issues we had been having before the training began. Since we had only concentrated on my training I hadn't heard this report before. "What do you mean the air feels odd? Is one of the monstrous satyrs using magic to control the air?" I asked.

Sil shook her head. "No master. The air feels oddly energized." she replied.

I frowned then shook my head as a wave of exhaustion and fatigue rolled over me. "Delilah." I called out.

Delilah pulled a bag out of her shadow then handed one of the neon green fruits to me. "All of it Master." she told me.

I nodded then bit into the fruit skin and into the meat of the fruit. It was incredibly bitter for a moment then after chewing for a moment the flesh of the fruit seemed to dissolve into a thick sugary sweet syrup that flowed down my throat. The moment I swallowed the last of the fruit I could feel my mana pool refilling rapidly while my mana core began to throb as it began its transition into a mythril core.

"Daryl, what is going on?" Karen asked, sounding a bit concerned.

I blinked then looked at her. She looked back at me with a confused and concerned expression.

"There isn't anything wrong Lady Karen. Aura is a skilled light elemental. After she was summoned she used her power to instigate a light speed conference. Our odd movements and sounds were us conversing at high speed." Delilah explained.

"Say what now?" Micheal asked in surprise.

"Master. The mana in the air is getting thicker." Sil reported to me.

I frowned then looked at other elementals. "Any idea what that might mean?" I asked them while ignoring Micheal.

The elementals looked at each other then one by one shook their heads.

I frowned but said nothing. The things happening in this world were already abnormal so it shouldn't be odd if they didn't know. In fact, them not knowing what was going on was likely to become the norm.

"Is the ambient mana level rising?" Caly asked. "With all those rifts open it wouldn't be surprising if more mana flowed into this world."

"It didn't feel like a gate opening." I reminded her.

"It wouldn't." Caly replied. "The energy that is pushed into this world during a gate opening is very pure. Which is why we react to it like we do. The mana that flowed in from the rifts isn't nearly as pure."

I looked at her. "How is that even possible. Isn't the energy from the gate openings supposed to come from the worlds this one is connected to?" I asked her.

Caly shrugged. "I have no idea how it works. That is just the explanation my teachers gave us when we asked during our schooling." Caly replied.

I just shook my head and put it out of my mind. We could consider the source of energy and how the gates worked after surviving all of this. With my mana pool restored and new strength flowing through me with the upgrade of my mana core to mythril I felt incredible. "Keep an eye on the mana in the air. In the meantime we should go take a look at those satyrs and see what they intend to do." I told the others.

"Master, Bill and Marshal have reached Old Walter's house." Delilah reported.

I frowned. Why did it take them so long? I shook my head and reminded myself that to everyone else Bill and Marshal had only just left. They might have gotten there faster than I should have expected.

"Hey fine I get it, we are busy, but you are explaining on the way." Micheal told me.

I shrugged then smiled at him. "If you can keep up." I told him then used my teleportation to shift to the roof. My training with the other elements hadn't gone as well because I used some of that time to train my teleportation ability. While not as easy to do since there wasn't any kind of spatial elemental to train me. I was able to use the notes my father passed to me. Thankfully Aura was able to scan it and bring an image of it into the training area, but she was only able to do that because I had pulled it out of my spatial storage beforehand. Going through those notes had helped me to understand the ability a lot more. Especially the different ways to teleport. The portal was only one way, and it was the more time and mana consuming method, but perfect for moving larger groups. The instantaneous movement was closer to what I thought about when someone mentioned teleporting, and was what my father had used when he came to fetch me to the family meeting. It was my lack of knowledge and automatic use of the portal when Jake pissed me off which caused me to keep using the portal and not utilizing the faster instant teleportation. Not that I had used it all that much, but I was sure that was going to change.

Arriving on the roof I was able to get a good view of our surroundings. Looking up I considered teleporting up into the air for a better view. While I hadn't mastered the use of the air element well enough to fly, I could at least hold myself in a suspended state. But I decided against it. I didn't need to draw any unwanted attention and standing on the roof was already flashy enough.

"Which way Sil?" I asked.

Sil appeared by my side then pointed away from the entrance to the housing complex. It was a good thing she was patrolling or we might not have even realized they were in the housing complex until after someone was injured or killed.

"Master." Sil called out again her gaze moving to the sky in the north. Ariel appeared by my side a moment later, her gaze also moving to the sky. I shifted my line of sight to follow theirs. In the sky to the north dark purple clouds were quickly forming and spreading out across the sky. Bright golden lightning bolts flashed frequently within those clouds.

"Mana storm." Sil stated in horror.

"How is that possible. This isn't a higher realm!" Ariel yelled fearfully.

My other elementals appeared around me each of them staring at the approaching storm.

"It doesn't matter how it happened. We need to get back inside. Master, we need to send a warning out to everyone to get inside." Delilah told me.

My phone started to wail an emergency alarm. I pulled it out of my pocket to see an emergency alert on the screen. Reading it quickly I saw that it was the exact warning Delilah said we needed to send out. What it described didn't seem pleasant at all. It also solidified the fact that the government definitely had some contact with those from outside of our world. Without it there was no way they would have known what a mana storm was. Worse they had recognized it even faster than my elementals had.

The back door opened and Micheal along with several others ran out to stare at the sky.

I really hoped no one else reacted the same way.

"Daryl!" Bill called from the backyard of another house. I looked over to see him standing beside an older man and woman in a backyard two houses over.

"Get back inside." I yelled down at Micheal and the others, happy that none of my girls had felt the need to come out. Then I teleported to a spot a couple of feet away from Bill.

"What, shit Daryl you nearly gave me a heart attack." Bill stated as he was startled by my sudden appearance.

"Sorry, I want to be back in the house before that storm hits." I told him. As I looked over old Walter and the woman I assumed was his wife. Both looked to be in their seventies or maybe older. Walter looked like he had spent the last ten years not leaving his recliner, his wife on the other hand still looked to be in pretty good shape for her age. Walter's house had a sliding glass door as his back door, and through it I could see Marshal animatedly talking to another man and woman. The pair seemed younger so I assumed that they were Walter's family. Around the pair were three kids, two boys and a girl in their middle to late teens.

"My son's ex wife and her new husband. They came for the kids." Walter told me as a way of explanation. From his tone of voice I could tell he really didn't like the couple.