Theurgy: The Journey's Dawn (Book One)

Chapter 22 The Manticore

        The next dawn seems to come slowly for Lyse. He was used to staying up for more than one day; he can function at his best by the third night most of the time. Gabbes once had him and a few others wander around the village walls and through the forest searching for something he had hidden. That was before he learned to sense aura; otherwise, he would have found the bird egg hidden under a rock and buried about a meter deep. He did not let them rest, and they had to fill in any holes they made in their search. He slept well that night, although Massia complained he smelled like the barn animals. However, training with his mother was a whole different strain on his body; he was not quite prepared for it.

At first, it was simple to handle. Channeling the pendant's power didn't get any easier, but the struggle he went through became more like a routine. Soon, he'll become better at that routine. But the power slowly sapped him of energy every time he made a seed grow into either grass or a sapling of some tree. None of it grew any more than a pinkie's length, and every time his mother would give a holding look, smack the young plant out of his hand, and bark at him to keep trying. He wondered if she really wanted him to grow a forest purely from just thinking about it. He wasn't getting any better, despite the visual lessons he was given, taking in the air and connecting to his roots as a farmer. Constantly tapping into the power of the gods got only harder, the harder he tried. And he couldn't just surrender completely. Who knows what would happen then? His mother explained that the power could take up a personality of its own and try to use him, inhabit him. The thought was harrowing, and as she warned, didn't help him focus at all.

As Celia continued her instructions, she then began to speak on the other abilities of these gods. The pendant was more like a series of doors, each leading to a seemingly endless amount of power for him to tap into. But, opening the doors is like opening a window in the midst of a massive storm. Closing it is much harder than opening it, and you could be dragged out the door without protection and without the ability to navigate the storms. She then explained that because he had spent so much time wearing the pendant, that he is far more capable of controlling it than she had been. It is less likely he would be sucked into the storm as he is now. But he still has a long way to go before he can do any of the wondrous things she had described beyond the minor effects the pendant put on his body and mind.

Before he knew it, the horizon was enlightening, signaling the coming sun that will rouse everyone from their sleep. Lyse almost couldn't believe that he had been at it all night long and couldn't believe how tired he was. He never felt this ragged in a long time, at least not since the dungeon. His hands ached, and he felt like his veins were freezing in his arm. He held a flower between his hands, the bud not open, but a soft yellow and white color ready to be revealed. Again, it was smacked out of his hands, and the flower fell and slowly withered away like it had been cut off from its only source of nourishment. He didn't have the energy to complain or react, he felt sapped away, and the pendant only glowing from his efforts. His mother stood then, shaking off the flakes of bark and dirt, and turned to the group slowly stirring awake uphill.

"You're making excellent progress," she told him. "But you'll need far more if we are to fight against Talin."

"Are you sure a few flowers will take out a Talin assassin?"

"They are called the Makhai, and no. Remember that this is only the beginning. If you can master this power, it will be the foundation of everything else. Just like your knight training, progress will be steady. But I have faith you'll be ready. One day."

He sighed, looking up at the two moons hovering over him. The belt of spelled white that hung around him touched from horizon to horizon and made the two moons seem like buttons on a ribbon. Looking up at the stars makes him feel smaller, always. Just knowing how little he knows of the world gave him this effect. And with the gods, there was yet another late of it all to picture and learn. This was a dilemma on its own, the gods.