Amil’s hands were shaking as he sat back down next to Pax and took the mirror. He looked up at Pax, questions in his eyes. “How do I do this exactly? And I know it’s probably dangerous to absorb a type of mana I don’t have already, so any suggestions on not blowing myself up?”
Pax shook his head as the rest of their friends took instinctive steps back, creating as much distance as they could in the close quarters. Amil gave them an affronted look.
“Hey, it’s lightning,” Dahni said, spreading his hands in an apologetic gesture.
“True.” Amil acknowledged the point with a shrug before turning back to Pax.
“Well, the first question is whether you can pull a foreign mana out of the mirror. You only tried your flame and air while testing it so far, right?”
As Amil nodded, Pax tried to figure out how to explain his thoughts without disappointing him. “Then, I’m afraid it might not work. You don’t have a connection or understanding of lightning mana yet. At worst, you’ll suck in a bit of it, and it’ll damage you, just like me pushing some into you before you’re ready.”
Amil’s face hardened with determination. “That doesn’t mean I won’t try it. And if it doesn’t work, I want you to use your mana and push a bit of lightning into me. I’m getting better at sensing the flavor of it, especially when you used your Overcharge on me. But I need more. And faster.”
“Amil, you know I’m supposed to get my lightning to level 2 before I—” Reluctance filled Pax’s voice.
“And how are you supposed to do that in the capital, Pax?” Amil’s voice was sharp enough that everyone else stiffened. “The only source of lightning we have is a level 5 core that might kill you and a cave where you can practice hitting us with Overcharge.”
Pax closed his mouth, knowing Amil was right. He needed more exposure to lightning to understand it better and there were no beasts or mages that could help him in secret. Maybe once he joined the rebels and could fight in the open with all his abilities.
“Besides, you probably have the best mana control of anyone in the empire. And we have healing potions, if anything goes wrong. You wouldn’t try hitting me with lightning last time, but I’ve been working hard with my two mana types. I’m getting better, so it’s worth the risk now. Just hit me with the tiniest amount of lightning mana and aim it at an unimportant part of my body—”
“All body parts are important.” Tasar’s words broke Amil’s tirade, making everyone look nonplussed at the warrior.
Amil laughed first. “Fine. You’re right. But there’s a war on, and if we figure this out, that’s three more rebel mages with secret spells we can pull out to save our skin. I think that’s worth the damage to my pinky toe, don’t you think?” Without waiting for an answer, Amil was already undoing the laces of his heavy boot.
Pax looked to the others for their opinions while Amil got his foot free and pulled off his sock.
“It’s his toe, so let him decide.” Rin shrugged. “And he’s right. This is important enough to take some risks.”
Pax blew out a breath, knowing she was right. “But you’re going to try the mirror first, right?”
Amil paused and looked up from his bare foot, flushing. “Oh right. Let’s start with that.”
Everyone, including Pax, took a step back to give him room as he picked the mirror up and focused on it.
“Here goes.” Amil closed his eyes.
Then a whole lot of nothing happened.
Amil’s brows furrowed and he let out a few frustrated grunts before opening his eyes. “You were right. Only flame and air will come out of the mirror, regardless of how hard I pull. I just don’t have a handle on the other elements. I can tell they are there, but can’t distinguish between any of the ones I don’t have. They’re just blobs of energy.”
Pax gave him a sympathetic look.
“So, now it's time for you to try.” Amil handed the mirror back to Pax before lying back on the bed and placing his bare foot next to Pax’s side.
Pax closed his eyes and worked to drive out his worry and anxiety by focusing on his mana. His light threaded through the eight other types, making sure they coexisted peacefully with each other. Once he felt centered again, he gathered a small ball of lightning mana with its purple-tinged sparks. He shifted as much as he could back to his core until the sphere was as tiny as he could make. Still feeling trepidatious, he moved it up to his palm.
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Pax opened his eyes and met Amil’s. “I’ll keep it to a single pulse of lightning to your small toe. You’re sure about this?”
“Yes.” Amil gave him a definite nod before letting his head fall back on the pillow. “I’ll open my Mana Sight all the way and focus, so I can learn as much as possible. Any other advice?”
Pax shook his head. “That’s a good plan. We’re exploring the unknown here just like the way I’ve had to learn about my magic.”
“My favorite thing to do.” Amil sounded both cheerful and excited. “Hit me.”
There wasn’t anything left to do, so Pax did as asked. With the slowest push he could manage, he coaxed the ball of lightning mana through his fingers and into Amil’s pinky toe.
A spark zapped. Amil yelped and jerked. Skin burned, and an acrid smell of both smoke and buzzing energy filled the room.
“Yeow,” Amil said, before sitting up, or trying to. Something was off about his movement.
His right leg lay limp on the bed, unresponsive, while the rest of him flailed around. Eyes wide in horror, he patted both hands along his leg. He grabbed it and tried to lift it. It hung dead in his hands.
“My leg.” He looked up at Pax with desperation. “It’s not working.”
The others crowded in. Rin had a healing potion to his lips a moment later. Pax placed both of his hands on Amil’s bare foot. It lay, pale and listless, next to him. He triggered his Light Healing Others, giving no heed to the amount of mana he used.
What he found was a testament to the devastating and unpredictable power of lightning. It felt as if something had swept through Amil’s leg and removed all signs of life. It might as well be a chunk of beast leg from the cooler.
Thankfully, he sensed small flickers of life and mana returning, with the largest amount appearing at the top of his leg, where it joined the rest of his body. In fact, once he moved his attention closer, he sensed a distinctive rush of energy arriving and working to heal. The potion.
Feeling better, he opened his eyes to reassure Amil. “I think this is temporary. The lightning pretty much turned off everything in your leg. Your muscles, nerves, your pulse, the lightning shut it all down.”
Amil’s eyes widened further.
“Pax.” Rin’s voice was full of exasperation. “You probably should have led with the part where you’re going to fix it, and his leg will be fine, right?”
“Uh.” Pax gave Amil a shrug full of chagrin. “Yeah. The healing potion is already at work. I just need to get back in and make sure everything starts back up properly.”
“Then go in. Get in!” Amil waved both hands with urgent motions toward Pax.
Pax did as told, following the priority of systems that Mage Lorkranna had taught for emergency healing. Circulation came first. Amil wasn’t bleeding, thank Vitur, so Pax needed to restore blood flow first.
With a gentle touch, he soothed the major vessel that had spasmed shut with threads of calming light mana. As the blood rushed in, pinking up Amil’s pale and unresponsive tissues, Pax moved down the branches, lending his aid to the process. The energy from the healing potion boosted things too, helping him work faster than expected.
Nerves were next. His light mana didn’t work as fast on them as they had on the vessels. Lorkranna had taught them that nerves worked through a method like a weak cousin to lightning. But Pax didn’t want to risk any more lightning inside Amil today.
The pathways for the nerves were as complex and branching as the vessels had been. It took time and effort, but eventually, Pax saw muscles responding, twitching and coming back to life. When he opened his eyes, he saw relief in Amil’s eyes. His friend let out slow breaths as he stared at his leg, now twitching instead of lying still. Pax was encouraged to see a faint pink returning to the skin of his foot.
Amil looked up and met his eyes. “Thanks, Pax. I panicked there for a bit. I guess when I have no way to accept the mana, it has no choice but to just be lightning. It would probably be the same if I hit someone with my mana who didn’t have flame and burned them.”
He looked over at Rin as he wiggled his leg carefully. “Thanks for being fast on that potion. I would have reacted better to a regular wound, you know, bleeding and all mangled.” He shook his head, still looking off balance. “But my leg suddenly stopped responding. It just laid there and refused to move.”
Rin patted his shoulder. “All the more reason to do the experimenting when you’ve got us here to help.”
He smiled at her before suddenly looking thoughtful. “Lightning might be even more awesome than I was thinking. It can paralyze! There’s no way an enemy can fight back if their arm or leg just goes limp.”
Pax was already shaking his head when Amil’s excited eyes turned to him.
Rin just backhanded him in the chest. “Idiot. You’re going to wait until we have a much better handle on lightning before we let it kill you. You’re just lucky it was your leg that got paralyzed, not your heart or brain.”
The possibility quenched Amil’s excitement in an instant. He nodded, expression full of chagrin. “You’re right. Maybe waiting until we can get back to the training rooms in the light headquarters is the better plan.”
“You think?” Rin scoffed at him as the rest of their friends nodded their agreement.
Bryn moved forward once it was clear Pax and Amil were done with their experimenting. “We’ve got about an hour before our first shift as Interns for the Steelshades starts. And since we just went through our new auction items, I think now is a good time to do an accounting of the other unique and valuable items we’ve all collected. I want to make a quick inventory list for the crew.”