Elysian (A Kotlc Fanfic)

Chapter 5

The days slipped by and Sophie fell into the routine of attending her sessions, having daily group check-ins during lunch, and awaiting the date for her team Valiant meetings. She was extremely tired of barely making any progress. Which was why she slumped into her seat during her next Telepathy session, tired of their group's lack of progress after being updated during the previous check-in.
    "Are you okay?" Fitz transmitted as he sank into the seat beside her, while waiting for Tiergan to arrive.
"I just can't believe that it's been more than a week since we saw Elysian and we've barely made any progress," she whispered.
"I know how you feel. Tiergan told me that he has prepared a special exercise for us today though and maybe we'll have a breakthrough," Fitz replied.
"I hope it'll work," Sophie transmitted back, trying not to get her hopes up. Right on cue, Tiergan entered the room.
"We'll be working on something really important today. Since the two of you have been able to establish your own boundaries and strengthen your cognate connection, I am going to be teaching you a new skill. It can be rather dangerous if done the wrong way, so I will need both of you to listen carefully," Tiergan announced.
"When entering an enemy's mind, there is a way to drain a little of another's  energy to lower and get past the person's mental defences more easily to obtain whatever information you need. This can only be used in extreme cases, but as the two of you have encountered such dire circumstances before, such as reading King Dimitar mind or during Fintan's healing, it would be prudent to learn this skill. The act of taking away energy from someone else can also be straining, so the two of you must share the burden," he continued.
"What if we drain too much energy?," Fitz asked.
"The telepath will also suffer side effects depending on the amount of energy taken, as the energy forcefully yanked from the opponent's core does not mix with their only reserves, meaning they do not gain any energy. It is therefore important to grasp the crucial window of time when the opponent is weakened. This skill is usually only used as a last resort, and telepaths are also prevented from draining too much energy from another as they will also take damage," Tiergan explained.
Sophie, meanwhile, thought of another question. "Why don't I just do a brain push? "she asked.
"This method should only be used if the brain push is not effective. However, it is not without its risks, and the two of you need to promise me to only use it if there is no other way," Tiergan answered.
Once Sophie and Fitz nodded, Tiergan elaborated, " I will need the two of you pool your consciousness together. Imagine that it is a giant sieve, and try to pull the energy from my core. The weariness should hit soon, so grasp the period of time where I am weakened and my mental defences are not as strong to breach my mind,".
    Sophie and Fitz entered Tiergan's mind and followed his instructions. "It's as if his mind dimmed," Fitz transmitted to Sophie. It was like his mental armor had been worn out, providing openings for them to slip through. Together, they quickly passed through and completed the task, immediately feeling the weariness hit them afterwards.
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"I can't believe Tiergan taught us do to something like that," Sophie transmitted to Fitz once their session had ended.
    "Yeah, I was really shocked too," Fitz replied.
    "But if the Neverseen and Lady Gisela are stepping up their game, so do we, even if it means making the hard calls," Sophie decided.
    "I'm with you on that. It's just hard to believe that you're the same girl I brought back from the forbidden cities," Fitz answered with a teasing smile.
    "Not in a bad way," he clarified. "Let's give them all we've got!" He transmitted as they made their way to the cafeteria from lunch.
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        "Hey guys! Guess what? I just came from ability detecting and I manifested!," Jensi exclaimed when he sat down at their table.
    "What? Told you so, congratulations," Sophie said, happy for her friend. She was dying to know what ability had Jensi manifested. Fortunately, she did not have to wait long.
    "So what did you manifest as?" Biana asked as she joined them.
    "I'm a Guster now, and that means I've pretty much guaranteed my place in the Elite Levels," he replied with a large smile, making the wind blow around their table, whipping their hair at their faces.
    On that cheerful note, we have something to share as well," Keefe added, pointing at himself, Dex and Tam as the three of them sat down.
    "We were at Hushwood library yesterday, and I think we discovered something about Elysian. Let's meet there after school, and we'll show you all what we've found," Dex explained.