Kegohr, Vesma, and I watched on as the golem hurled a series of vicious strikes at her. But she remained rooted in place, even as the flaming fists bounced off her face, arms, and stomach. The blows caused her no harm whatsoever, and her expression almost seemed bored.
Mahrai’s skin glistened again and turned back to its usual flesh before she ordered her golem to retreat with another small gesture.
“Sweet gods in heaven,” Kegohr muttered. “What the hells was that?”
“Earth-based Physical Augmentation,” I said with a grin. “Isn’t it?”
Mahrai nodded. “Turns out I’m not just a one-trick novice after all. The monks told me that anyone with any Augmentation ability can learn to Physically fortify themselves. I didn’t believe it, but there you are. It works.”
“There must be drawbacks,” Vesma commented.
“Yeah,” Mahrai admitted. “It roots me in place, and I can’t move. That’s the cost of becoming invulnerable. I’m fairly sure I could take a hit from even Kegohr’s mace with this though. Not sure I’d want to try it against your little hammer over there, Ethan, but I can take a punch for sure.”
“Little?” Choshi protested from within the Demure Rebirth.
“Next to Kegohr’s club, you are a little on the scrawny side,” Nydarth snickered.
“Cut it out,” I told them with a laugh before I moved my focus back to my friends. “That’s a damn useful skill set, Mahrai. Vesma’s right. For all your complaining about the monks, you have to admit, staying here was a good idea.”
“In some areas, sure,” Mahrai said grudgingly. “But I still hate being treated like an errant child. The condescension, the constant preaching about the light of the Wandering Path? I could do without it.”
“A small burden, all things considered,” Vesma said.
“Keep it up, guys,” I said. “Everything you’re learning is phenomenal. Hell, we’re almost ready to take on an army now.”
“You mean we haven’t before?” Mahrai asked.
“I’m talking an army of Augmenters,” I said. “Not just demons or crazy guards.”
“And what about you, Effin?” Kegohr asked. “Sure, you’ve got your Physical Augmentation, but what about this Environmental stuff?”
The others looked at me expectantly, and I shrugged. “Nothing yet.”
“What?” Vesma exclaimed. “You’re the one who’s always ahead of the curve. Why haven’t you broken through and mastered a new element or something yet?”
“As strange as this sounds,” I said, “I think it’s bad teaching. But it won’t stop me.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Kegohr said confidently.
“We should head back,” I suggested. “No point in getting caught out here or turning up to breakfast looking like we’ve just fought a war. We’ll get some rest and keep training.”
The rosy fingers of dawn crept over the sky as we followed the track toward the monastery. Vesma joined my side, and her fingers curled in mine as she leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“I’m glad you suggested this,” she said.
“I thought you didn’t want to break the rules,” I replied.
“All I want to do is get back and train,” Vesma said. “After the way—” She caught herself mid-sentence with a grimace. “Look, I enjoyed it. Don’t tell the others though.”
A smile curled over my face. “Need to save face?”
She bumped my shoulder with hers. “Shut up. Meet me out here in two days from now. I want to teach you what flying is really like.”
“I’ve experienced something pretty similar,” I joked. “Our first time. In Master Kyu’s study.”
Blood warmed her face, and she rolled her eyes dismissively. “It’ll be better.”
Chapter Twenty-One
We snuck back into the monastery easily enough and fell into the constant routine of training once again. Tymo gave me no reason to suspect that he’d noticed our departure. I sat in my usual spot in the main hall the next day to begin, but he was nowhere to be seen. I focused on the Vigor in the world around me, just as I had before, and still couldn’t use it to fuel my techniques. After a few hours, I gazed up at the graven images of Eresin and Myrdel and pondered the story that Tymo had told me about the two great figures.
“Did you ever meet Myrdel?” I asked Nydarth.
“Of course not. She is the mother of our bloodline, but she ascended to the pantheon long before I was even thought of,” she replied. “Our Dragon Mother was powerful, and wise beyond imagining. Her understanding of the planes, of power, and of Augmentation were utterly unmatched.”
“You seem to forget the less friendly parts of the legends,” Yono said. “She was harsh, unforgiving, and despised all who opposed her system of rule. I, too, have my bloodline that lead from her, but the dragons of the deep remained neutral in the war.”
“How powerful was she?” I asked.
“It was said that all of nature bent to her will. The smallest effort was required on her part to bring ruin to her enemies,” Nydarth said excitedly. “She became the eye of the storm, and existence itself seemed to bend to her will. A simple flick of her talon, and she could incinerate armies, draw them into the earth, or drown them in tidal waves of water.”
I grimaced. “And I can’t even light a candle with the Vigor around me.”
“You will learn, Master,” Choshi said. “I know you will.”
“How?” I asked. “Everything I’ve ever learned has been based around me using—”
I froze in place, and an idea crept into my mind. I stilled my thoughts, blocked out the voices of the Immense Blades, and slowed my breathing until I averaged a single breath a minute. My heart thudded dully in my chest, and blood rushed past my inert channels and pathways. “The eye of the storm,” Nydarth had said.
How could I use that?
What did it take for a storm to begin?
Knowledge from my old life flitted through my
