I stood, thinking about what I had done when Darina came stomping out of the foliage muttering to herself; there was a ragged, blood stained tear in her shirt over her shoulder, though of course it was not bothering her.
Despite the fact that the wound had obviously healed already, I still felt bad; we were only supposed to be practising, and even if I did not know exactly what happened, it was still my fault.
“What was that? You hit me twice as hard as you should have; have you been holding back?” The apprentice’s voice was low and dangerous; I did not think that she would appreciate it if I had been holding back, but luckily for me, I never had any intention to do that.
“No! I don’t know what happened, I was just trying to push more power through my arm. Maybe it’s to do with my energy channels, just... making my arm stronger?”
“I have the same channels, remember? It’s not that. Here, let me brace myself and try again.”
I looked at her as she set her feet and blinked; the disregard for her own safety was still an alien concept to me.
“Are you sure?” I gestured at the ripped shirt, but Darina simply snorted and dismissed my concern with a wave.
“Okay... uh, here I come then.”
Focusing again, I started to push energy into my arm, forcing more and more electricity and Praxis through my channels; I cannot explain how I was doing it; it was like flexing a new muscle or moving my ears, just something I did.
Once the power had gathered and the lightning about my arm was snapping twice as hard and as fast as that around the rest of me, I ran in close and twisted my body and once more drove my light-clad fist into her raised forearms.
I could see my friend stiffen for a moment as the filaments of electricity connected to her skin and flowed into her body. Anybody else allowing that much current into their bodies would have been in trouble, but I knew the apprentice was healing the damage as fast as it was applying and after a long second, I felt my energy repelled by her defences and I relaxed, allowing my Focus to slip.
“How was that? I notice you did not shoot off into the jungle this time.”
“No, that wasn’t right. The lightning was stronger – a lot stronger and it hurt, but it wasn’t the same. What about your Path, could it be that?”
“I don’t know how it could be; it seems to be making me faster, or slowing time, whatever, but not by a lot. I know I haven’t really started to integrate it though.”
“Hmm. Try again, but concentrate on your Path, apply it in... whatever way you intended.”
“Sure.”
I took a deep breath and once more electricity sprang from me as I Focused; this time, I did not try to push more power into my arm, instead I concentrated on it, my mind locked on speed. I could feel Praxis flowing into it, independent of my lightning and as the world moved about me in slow motion I again lashed out at Darina’s guard.
This time, it was different; as I began the punch, I again experienced the feeling of my arm moving on its own, of drifting before with a loud snap the diminutive apprentice was knocked off her feet to land sliding across the ground.
I looked down at my remaining arm, still trying to figure out what had happened; I had felt my Exemplar engage when I had Focused. The changes to my Focus were proof that they would operate in tandem, but I had not been lying, the increase in speed had been marginal. I thought back to the fight with the frog, about how it had hit so hard and it occurred to me that while the effect had been marginal when I was using it across my whole body, perhaps concentrating it on a smaller area had concentrated the effect.
“There, that was it. I was paying more attention this time; you hit three or four times harder than you should be able to at the Path stage. What did you experience, Hunter?”
“I just... concentrated on my arm being fast? It sort of felt like I lost control of it. I was thinking... maybe focusing the speed on my arm specifically, rather than all of me, increases the speed?”
It sounded very, very obvious when I said it out loud and I was kind of embarrassed that it had taken me this long to start condensing my powers, though it was not something that would be super-useful all the time. On many occasions, my speed had been far more useful than the lightning itself, and while I was concentrating it, that did not happen. It was a good tool to have, but I would need to be careful how I used it. Of course, that did not account for the power shown by my Path; if I could concentrate one while keeping the other general, I could maintain both a measure of increased speed and power.
“I do not think increased speed alone is enough of an explanation; it felt like as soon as I began to adjust to the force I was overcome and knocked over. It felt more like a series of blows than a single fast attack.”
I thought back again to when the frog had apparently eaten all the insects as we watched; the swarm had vanished all at once, and its tongue was not that big. Given what we knew of the amphibian’s abilities, it did not seem likely it had an area attack. Perhaps, in that instant it had attacked many times, taking them one tongue full at a time; I recalled the feeling of being hit by it, how it had felt like it had vibrated.
“Darina, did it feel like my punch... vibrated?”
“Not that I noticed, why? What sort of weird Intent did you have...?”
Not wanting to go into what she was thinking, I ignored the question and went on with my explanation.
“When I was fighting the frog, it felt like its attacks vibrated. I’m thinking it was attacking multiple times, all at once somehow, and that’s why it hit so hard.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“You think you hit me more than once? You would have to be moving... very fast, Hunter. You would need to be attacking at Foundation speeds for me not to be able to perceive it at all.”
“I... I don’t know if I’m actually moving fast. When we fought, the frog didn’t actually seem to be moving; it was like it started to move and then just skipped it. I think it was messing with time, somehow.”
“It is possible, I suppose. They have not been studied extensively; they are generally beyond the capability of those at the Core stage, as you saw. You defeated it, I believe, with passive damage?”
“Yeah, I mostly just beefed up my lightning and let it electrocute itself. Damn, that doesn’t make sense if it was freezing time. How did the electricity affect it? I guess there goes my theory.”
“Not necessarily; maybe it did not ‘freeze’ time, but merely slowed it greatly?”
“Like, maybe it compressed time? Damn, where’s a physicist when you need one?”
“I have no idea what that is, or what the implications of compressing time are.”
“I just mean that maybe it had more time, relative to the things around it. This is making my head hurt.”
“Finally, you know my pain.”
Darina’s voice was dry and it made me crack a smile, though it quickly faded as I contemplated my theory. The whole ‘time compression’ thing would explain what happened when I focused on my head; I experienced that moment subjectively, but because only my head was in the compression, all the signals queued up to try to take effect at once, causing my less than graceful loss.
“Okay, I’m going to try taking a step, but like I punched you. If I take multiple steps, it’s confirmed, right?”
“That sounds like it could work, yes.”
Nodding once, I moved a short distance away and let my lightning rip again. As the smell of ozone clouded the air once more, I concentrated on one leg, on compressing, multiplying time and tried to step forward. I felt the step start, and as before I seemed to lose control of my leg, but it was hard to concentrate on that as I was immediately launched into the air, rolling sideways in an uncontrolled spin.
Landing on the other side of the clearing, I rose to my feet to the sound of Darina’s laughter. Turning around and rubbing at my shoulder, I glared at the apprentice.
“What’s so funny?”
My guffawing companion did not answer me for a minute, so I took the time to walk back over, holding the glare even though I was not really feeling it. After several more seconds, the laughter subsided as she rubbed a tear from her cheek before finally answering me.
“You started to walk, and then just shot into the air. You tried to walk with one leg, didn’t you?”
“... Yes? So what?”
“Try to walk without moving your body, using only one leg.”
I tried to picture it and could only imagine dragging myself along while hopping; in retrospect, it was pretty dumb, and I was not keen on looking the fool again only to prove her right.
“Fine. So, I probably shifted my weight onto that leg and then tried to kick off, lifting me into the air. And I bet you were awesome with your Exemplar when you got it.”
“My Master said I was something of a prodigy; hence the apprenticeship with an Apex.”
I did not bother to reply, knowing she was probably right; Apexes were a big deal, I could imagine that it is a big deal to be taken in by one, when not just lucking out.
Grumbling I once again moved a short distance away and tried again, this time concentrating my intent on both legs. It went slightly better. As I went to take my step, holding the concept of time compression in my mind’s eye, I found myself smashing face first into the ground, my nose sinking into the loamy ground before I had chance to react.
Climbing to my feet and spitting out dirt, I wiped my face and beard clean to the sound of the perfect apprentice laughing again behind me.
Trying to figure out what had gone wrong this time, I glanced back along my path to see a partially exposed root with my footprints leading up to it. It seemed that I had tripped.
“Awesome, so since my mind isn’t sped up along with my legs, I can’t compensate for terrain. So far, it’s good for attacking, which isn’t nothing, and I suppose it will improve, but super-speed would have been so cool.”
“Well, at least you still have your nonsense. You should try leaping, or kicking off the ground. You wouldn’t need to compensate for the ground, or worry about your body changing orientation mid-movement.”
“That’s... actually a good idea. Thanks, Darina.”
“Of course; I’m a prodigy and you just tried to force your face into the dirt.”
I flipped her the bird with a grin and walked off so that I stood at the edge of the clearing with the furthest distance from the opposite side. Bringing my Focus back under control, I let my lightning gather around me and concentrated on my leg, crouching and leaning to the side as if about to leap sideways out of the way of an onrushing ape. I felt the power gather in my leg and I kicked, the hazy feeling of losing my leg flaring up as I was sent soaring across and out of the clearing, easily moving three or four times further than I had intended and crashing through the leafy underbrush but finally landing on my feet.
Rising out of my crouch, I raised my clenched fist and stump above my head and whooped; that had been a complete success, and while it would take some fine-tuning and practice, it was definitely an option. Walking back to the clearing wearing a grin on my face, I looked forward to the day when I could compress time to that degree for my entire body.
Entering the clearing again, I found the apprentice waiting for me, a wide smile on her own face.
“Alright! Let’s go again!”
*
***
*
“She totally cheated.”
“You’re just a sore loser, Hunter.”
We were back at our temporary camp by the stone outcropping; we had fought again though I had regrettably not been victorious. I was still unable to use my new-found time powers continuously, there seemed to be a refractory period between uses and the creepy little fighter had used the opportunity to grow her flesh around my arm and had then proceeded to beat me into submission, simply out-healing my electricity. I could have turned up the power, but I did not want to waste more Praxis than I had to until I was fully up and running. But once I was topped off, we would try again and we would see if she could out-heal... however many volts I could put out.
“She grew around my arm, Reff. Around it. It was creepy. And cheaty.”
“With profound confusion, how is Darina making use of her ability to manipulate her own flesh cheating? Did you not use your new ability to ‘compress time’?”
“In confused agreement, I agree with my brother. This seems like an appropriate strategy to limit your superior speed.”
“Fine, it wasn’t cheating. But it was creepy.”
As I stopped speaking, I heard a giggle from Darina and she reached out to wave at me with both hands, but as she did each finger split in two so that she had twenty fingers.
“There, see?! Creepy.”
“With humorous appeasement, of course, Hunter. Congratulations on this new aspect of your Path, Darina. This must be a significant step towards integration?”
“Thank you, Reff. And yes, I am not even two-thirds done, or I will be once I have applied the Praxis. I will be caught up to you in no time.”
“With curious consideration, how close are you now, brother?”
“With restrained pride, I made the transition earlier today, completing my Path and beginning my Foundation.”
“Holy shit, Reff! Congratulations! You’re cultivating Veritas now, right? How does it feel?”
“Congratulations, Reff. I suppose I will have to wait a little longer to catch up to you. Perhaps we can spar, tomorrow?”
Riffa, rather than saying anything further simply reached out and hugged her brother, he arms wrapping around his neck; it was the most overt show of emotion that I had seen from the pair, and it was pretty heart-warming.
“With careful consideration, it feels... intense. I look forward to testing myself against you, or our opponents should they strike first.”