Finding Contentus

Chapter 154: Energy

"Abba, are you—"

I'm sure. I don't know how much time I have left. I can feel my collections slipping by the second. It's best if I spew all I can in this session.

Lovouta sought to protest, only to stumble when she saw her father smiling thinly at her. She could never argue against his thin smiles. How was he even able to smile after withstanding so much damage?

Ayata rubbed his hands together and held his palms out, spreading yellow therapeutic flames from the embers of Horus over his father. Kesi was still skinny, but in their eyes, it was a significant improvement to when they first found his malnourished body. Since regaining his consciousness, Lovouta and Ayata had relieved the previous caretakers of their duties. It was only right that they take care of their father. Such included basic activities like combing his hair, washing him, dressing him, keeping him hydrated, feeding him food in liquid form and so forth.

Kesi squinted like he was trying to fend off a harsh glare, summoning all his reserves to recall the years of research he had done.

How much have you been taught about the Optimer system here in Zatalia? Kesi asked.

Despite the physiotherapy and psychotherapy he had undergone with his children, he still couldn't speak with his mouth yet, nor could he instruct his legs to stand and walk without assistance.

So he spoke to his twins from the heart and brain. Lovouta used Durga's third eye to read his thoughts like an electrocardiogram, capturing electrical signals as though they were fluctuating waves on sheets of paper. Ayata on the other hand used Agni's third eye to convert his father's brain signals to audible speech in his mind.

"A fair share," Lovouta said plainly. "Here they refer to it as the Betrayal of Firelight."

Tell me what you know of Amandla aura as an energy and life force. Kesi instructed, hollow-cheeked and hollow-eyed. His thoughts were extremely thin like reeds.

Lovouta breathed in. Her windy Amandla swelled around her. "Human aura is like the wind." She sighed, feeling puffed like all the air had been stolen from her. "We can easily get the wind knocked out of us."

Ayata crafted a tiny fireball in his hand. His windy Amandla was too strong for the fireball's minuscule amount of heat to keep burning. It got snuffed out, turning to smoke. "Racaan aura is like fire. It can run out like a match if there isn't enough fuel."

Kesi regarded his twins. His daughter sat to his left, holding his hand. His son stood on his right, focusing on keeping his body aflame.

What about merms? Kesi asked.

"Water," Ayata spat the word out as if his flames had been drenched.

Primals?

"Air," Lovouta answered. "You can't really see it like in humans, Racaans, or merms, but it's there. It's everywhere. In the very air we breathe."

Were you taught that the primal gene was airborne when it first broke out? Kesi asked.

Lovouta nodded.

Kesi coughed. Just as air currents flow all around the earth, so does their primal aura that extends to all life. What about the Optimer system? How much do you know about that?

"Just the mechanics of it, not the exact method," Lovouta said.

"Like how the hell it worked," Ayata added, giving him an acute look.

Kesi's pulse quickened and his neurons flared. He met the gazes of his children. I have to start with the agreement I had with your mother. She was my assassin. His thin smile lengthened towards his daughter. The smartass to my dumbass.