Chapter 62

While I had a lot of questions for Delilah, questions I was no longer willing to wait for. The pain was too much for me to bear so I shifted my consciousness into my mana core.

As soon as I was in I began to draw in the energy like I previously had. By now I was fairly familiar with the procedure, however instead of slacking on it, I redoubled my efforts in an attempt to pull in even more energy. After what Caly said, I knew I needed to get a lot of wisps to awaken and advance all of my elemental abilities and the new ability she wanted me to get. I wondered for a moment if I would also need to advance my spatial storage ability. Probably.

With those goals set in my mind I got to work pulling in the mist as quickly as I could. As soon as I began to draw in the mist from the border of my mana core I immediately felt the pain begin to fade. I had no idea why the whole process had to hurt so much, then again if it didn't hurt I probably wouldn't shift my mind into my mana core to draw in more mana.

While I liked to think that my efforts did more than relieve the pain I didn't notice much of an increase in wisps to my abilities, instead the flashing seemed to appear at the same rate that it had before. When the flow of mist into my core began to lessen I decided to ignore the rest of the mist and my gains. I shifted my consciousness out of my mana core.

As I opened my eyes I found Delilah sitting with Bryan in her arms and Emily beside her. Delilah noticed my movement, but before I could say anything I felt another wave of energy wash over me. This time it was different though. The energy felt cold, freezing cold. I started to shiver almost immediately.

I quickly shifted my consciousness back into my mana core. I immediately set to work drawing in the mist like I always did, but even as I did I could feel the cold start to set into my body. With the cold came an ache that came from my bones and a sense of lethargy that slowed me down as I desperately tried to draw in the mist. It took effort, mind numbing effort as I pulled as hard as I could so I could form the ball of mist that would aid me in drawing in the mist, and just as I was starting to make some headway, just as the cold in my body started to fade a bit. Another pulse of energy flowed through me. I felt like screaming in pain as the energy entering my mana core seemed to double.

With the increased mist flowing into my core all my efforts seemed useless. The freezing cold set into my mind and body, but with the mind numbing cold, I could feel another sensation begin to flow through my body. It was like thousands of razor blades cutting into my flesh over and over again shredding me from my skin down to my bones.

While I would think that the mind numbing cold would make it difficult for me to feel the razors cutting me into ribbons, the cold didn't seem to dull it at all. I wanted to scream in agony but I couldn't even move.

I knew there was a way I could relieve some of the pain, and without really thinking about it I fought hard to draw in the mist, but the no matter how much I pulled in, no matter how big the mist ball got, there was always a lot more mist flowing in to replace what I had drawn in. It was an endless fight as my abilities seemed to go crazy for a while, then stopped completely. I was mildly curious when I noticed the change, but I was far too busy drawing in the mist to investigate. A quick triple flash a few moments later relieved me of my anxiety so I pushed it out of my mind and kept working.

Several long moments later there was another flash, but it was unlike any of the others I had seen before, it blinded me, despite the fact I didn't have eyes. Then when the light faded the mist began to flow in even faster than before causing the cold and pain to redouble. Again the only thing that kept me from screaming, was my inability too.

With the increased pace of mist entering my core, nothing I did made a dent on the cold or the pain that wracked my body and mind. I fought with everything I had but the pain didn't relent in any way, worse it seemed to get worse with every passing moment. Eventually I prayed that I would black out, but despite my wishes I remained conscious for every second of the grooling agony.

Eventually like all of the previous gate openings, the mist began to slow, then eventually stopped. I didn't though. I had learned my lesson and kept drawing in the mist until there wasn't anymore mist flowing into my mana core. Only when I was sure it was finally over did I allow myself to relax. While I didn't pass out, I allowed my mind to blank out and relish in the fact that I wasn't feeling anything anymore. I had no idea how long I had been in my mana core, but I didn't feel like I had the energy to face the world outside yet. I was so mentally drained that I just wanted to curl up and sleep the rest of the day away.

As such I numbly watched as the last of the mist was gathered together in two locations that formed into new abilities. I was mildly curious as to what they were, but far too scared of the information download in my exhausted state.

While I wasn't willing to investigate my new abilities, I had no issue looking at my other abilities. It didn't take me long to realize why my abilities had stopped flashing. With three gate openings, no it was four I never checked the number of wisps in my abilities after the first opening. Either way all but my newest two abilities, the three elemental abilities I had just gained after the last gate opening, and my bond ability had ten wisps in them. As Caly had promised, none of my abilities had advanced into the second stage without my permission.

Each of those new elements now had seven wisps, while my bond ability now had two embers and two wisps.

Having satisfied my curiosity I glanced at my mana heart to see how many wisps I had in there, only to see that it had completely changed into a platinum core. I finally understood what that immense flash was, and why the mist flowed into my core even faster after the flash.

I still had no idea how that happened. I knew our theory, but if the new mana spirits were the cause why was there no signs of the next color? My core had turned halfway into platinum after adding one mana spirit. Now that two more had come through, why was I only platinum without a hint of the next color? That didn't really make sense to me, but then again, what did I know?

Once I was done pondering the issues with the color of my mana heart, I finally noticed the wisps zipping around inside it. I didn't even attempt to count them all. There were just far too many. I hadn't used my wisps to raise my mental ability so I had nine when the second gate had opened, and I had been averaging a bit more than twenty wisps a gate, so I guessed that there had to be around seventy to eighty wisps inside my mana heart. For a moment I was incredibly excited, then I remembered the fact that with second stage abilities, the wisps I had would only add a few embers to a couple of abilities, or I could maybe max out my bond ability.

Realizing that the immense number of wisps I had in my mana heart wasn't nearly as much as I had thought it was, really dampened the joy I had felt just a moment ago. I wondered for a moment if there was any way I could view the wisps in my mana heart as embers instead. Then as if hearing my thoughts, which it probably had, the wisps in my mana heart combined into embers. Once it was done I could easily count that I had ten embers and two wisps inside my mana heart. It was more than I had expected, but I wasn't going to argue with having more. Payment for all the suffering I had to endure.

Without anything else to look at besides the downloads for my newest abilities, and with some of my mental fortitude restored, I shifted my sight out of my mana core.

As I opened my eyes I once again saw Delilah caring for the two kids. Her eyes turned towards me as I started to move.

"See, I told you they were fine. Your mommy and daddy should wake up soon." Delilah told Emily.

Emily looked over at me. As our eyes met I could see that she had been crying. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were stained with tear trails. I felt sorry for her, having everyone pass out like that had to have been scary for a child her age. Though I was happy she didn't have to experience the pain the rest of us went through.

With that thought I wondered how the others fared. Having two new mana spirits appear together like that had been torture, and I knew I had barely been able to retain my sanity under that torture. If it was like that for me, what about the others?