Chapter 34:

About ten minutes after he had started absorbing electricity from the generator, Will got a strange feeling. He had no idea how to describe the sensation, but he somehow knew he was reaching the limit of his capacity for that energy.

Releasing one of the leads he was holding, he commented aloud, "Interesting."

"What?"

Will answered Cierra, doing his best to explain what he was feeling.

"Well, it makes sense that you would have a limit. I bet it will grow as you rank up."

"That would make sense. Anyway, it looks like it's your turn to experiment."

She had been on top of a boulder, in a meditative pose, as she focused on pulling from the aetheric to enhance her body. Standing up, she dropped to the ground and walked over to Will.

"I just realized I should probably decide on what I'm going to channel the jolt to actually do, before I grab those leads."

Ignoring the implied jab, Will responded in a very reasonable tone.

"That does sound like a good idea. Do you have anything you actually WANT to try?"

"Nothing in particular, really, but I'm thinking I'll see how high I can jump."

"That might be fun to watch. Too bad you aren't wearing a skirt."

"Ha ha. Now, hand over the cable."

Cierra carefully took the cable from Will, and held one of the leads while focusing internally. When she felt ready she grabbed the other lead, and began focusing the energy around her core.

When she felt like she had hit her limit, she quickly handed the cable back to Will. He could tell she was focusing, and when she opened her eyes there was a definite bluish glow in her already blue eyes.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. This feels weird. I can feel it wanting to run wild in my body, and I can already tell I won't be able to hold onto it for long."

"Well, your eyes are glowing. Not going to lie, that looks pretty damn cool."

"Really? Interesting. I've never actually gotten to watch anyone doing this."

Turning away to set herself for a simple jump straight up, Will noticed the crest on her back was also glowing. It was bright enough he could vaguely see it through her thin shirt.

Suddenly, Will felt an energy surge, and Cierra crouched before launching herself into the air. He guessed she reached about fifteen feet off the ground, before coming back down and landing lightly on her feet.

"Damn. That was impressive. How do you feel?"

When she turned back to face him, Will noticed the glow in her eyes had significantly dimmed. She was also wearing a goofy grin.

"That felt amazing! What a rush! Let me try again real quick."

Without hesitation, she turned back around and repeated the process. This time, Will guessed she hit about ten feet, and again landed with a truly unfair amount of grace.

Turning back to Will, she said, "I didn't have enough to push as much force into it that time, but it was still pretty awesome."

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Well, I was impressed. Do you know if you can increase your capacity? It seems pretty limited if you can only get a couple of bursts out of it."

"From what I was told, practice lets you take in more without losing control of it. You don't want that to happen. Of course, the amount also goes up as we get stronger."

"Wait, what happens to normal Activated who lose control of it?"

"Well, usually people are fine, because they automatically expel it when control starts to slip. That can be a bad day for anyone standing nearby, though.

That said, every now and then someone will do the opposite, and try to keep their mental grip on the energy. When that happens, if they fail… well, it backfires.

People have gone up like a person shaped torch when losing control of too much concentrated heat energy. With electricity, the rest of us don't automatically absorb lightning like you do. I'm pretty sure you can guess how that goes."

"Yikes. Good to know. I'll have to watch it with other energy types. Hey, is that where all those stories of spontaneous human combustion come from?"

Cierra smirked and snorted at that, saying, "I actually wondered the same thing. I've never been able to find out, but I've always been curious."

"Huh. Might be worth looking into that at some point. It's intriguing.

Hey, I want to try something. I want to see if you can channel electricity directly from me."

Cierra took on a contemplative expression at that. It was like she was carefully considering something, while scrutinizing his expression. Eventually she seemed satisfied, though Will had no idea what she was thinking about.

"Okay, I've been told it is possible to share energy between people, but it's tricky. One person has to bring it to the surface of their skin, while keeping a leash on it. The other person then has to absorb it, while taking over the control side.

We can try it with electricity. Your natural affinity should cancel out a good amount of the risk. Just… be ready for things to go out of control."

"Okaaaay… should we avoid it instead?"

"Normally, I would absolutely avoid it at our current skill levels. I do think you being a weirdo will mitigate a lot of the risk here, though. So, I'd like to give it a shot.

First, focus on your source and bring a small amount to the surface of one hand."

Focusing internally, Will focused on just the electrical element in his core. He realized that he already had the channels to do this, but wasn't sure if that was because of his unique nature.

Then he realized that he did have one serious advantage here. What he wanted was already flowing through his body. It was intrinsically linked to the aetheric energy in his body, so he wouldn't have to bring the charge from his core.

It was as simple as mentally creating a temporary circuit from the bones in his palm to the surface. With a minor effort of will, he was left with a tiny arc crackling along the surface of his palm.

Presenting it to his partner, she nodded and appeared to center herself. Stepping forward, she placed her palm against his and focused on pulling the small charge into her own system.

Instantly, Will felt a connection form between them that was indescribable. It was like the very core of his being was suddenly exposed. He wasn't prepared for the feeling, and it triggered an instinctive response from him. Recoiling, he slammed the connection closed.

Will cursed at himself, and checked Cierra's expression to see if she was ok. Luckily, she had expected something like this might happen.

Having not pulled much from him, it was easy for her to dump the small charge into the ground. After doing so, she opened her eyes and saw Will was watching her closely.

"All good," she said, "can you see why it's tricky now? That instinctive response isn't really something you can prepare for, without experiencing it."

"Yeah, I definitely get that. At first it was a crazy rush, but as soon as I felt myself being drained I freaked out."

"Exactly. I don't know what it takes to get over that response, but if you want to keep trying, there's no time like the present."

Thinking it through, Will eventually responded.

"Do you mind if we focus on what we need to work on right now, and give me a bit to think about this?"

"Not at all. I'm excited to play with that generator some more, and you need to work on your basic movements at full strength.

Take some time to get used to your new body. I'll work on my stuff. Then we can get together and work on learning to use our abilities defensively."

"That sounds like a better plan for now. Ok, have fun, and let me know when you're ready to move on."

With that, they moved in separate directions to begin focusing on their individual needs.

For several hours, the pair worked hard to improve their abilities.

Will focused on moving at top speed, and controlling his momentum in a more open setting. He also drilled himself on channeling his electricity to enhance his movement abilities, while keeping it tucked away when he didn't want to use it.

During his practice, he had overheard the occasional cracking sound that reminded him of stun guns. He had also sometimes caught sight of Cierra practically soaring over the desert, and realized she was doing a similar practice to his own.

By the time he felt like he'd done what he could for the night, he was feeling a lot more confident and in control of himself. It was a little startling how quickly he felt he had mastered this side of what he could do.

Moving at speed, Will got back to their little arena just in time to see Cierra slam a fist into the top of a small boulder.