Inside the warehouse the pair called their dining room, Egosum sat in concentration. The world around him felt strangely calm despite the newfound feelings coursing through him.

His eyes were tightly shut after a sudden realization that every time he closed them, he could still see plain as day.

It didn’t matter if he put his hands over his face or hid inside a crate. He was able to see everything around him for a few feet before it would start to fade. The color and texture were always very different from what his normal vision would see, but it was insane regardless of the limitations.

The other blatant oddity that he experienced came in the form of a glow he saw all around him. His attempt at keeping his dao sheltered deep inside of him became increasingly uncomfortable as time went on with his body glowing and an intense feeling of pressure building with every second he held on.

He eventually gave up on keeping it bundled up and let it pour around him in a flood of his essence. The fear of a small swamp spreading itself around the floor turned out to be unfounded as the wood moistened before disappearing completely.

“Hey, Coyotl!” The light shout drew the frog's attention, his head popping out from the top of a nearby crate with a very bright glow. “Do I look weird to you? I feel and look like I am glowing." He stared at the speechless friend and noticed another peculiarity. "You look like you're glowing too actually.”

His friend stared at him for a few seconds before going back to his meal.

“Figures.” Egosum hopped along the ground, looking at things and failing to keep his qi in check.

The crate of frogbit nearby stole his vision away. It glowed from above unlike anything he had seen to date.

He took a few hops to the full box and got close enough to see with his enhanced vision. The frogbit inside the nearby crates carried a concentrated light blue glow in each of the fleshy fruits.

His mouth watered slightly as he ducked away from the delectable treats. He had more important investigations to go through right now.

‘What could the glowing mean? Why is everything a different level of brightness and why am I the brightest of them all?’

Egosum exited the room to explore and hopefully find meaning in the weird events.

The world that welcomed him outside was completely different than what he was used to.

The trees all around them had an olive-green glow that permeated most of the lodgings and platforms the people lived around.

The leaves up above had the brightest glow out of all of them, with it slowly dimming near the part that connected them to the tree.

A group of passing guards stole his attention away as he looked around. All of their weapons glowed brightly as he watched them travel amongst the walkways. They seemed to pulse with life as they jostled on their backs.

‘Didn’t Cinera say they used magic to make their homes and weapons? But that would mean almost everything is magical, even Coyotl.’

He pondered about the varying levels of brightness he saw around the place and back to the frogbit.

‘I am too lost without some kind of explanation here, but I guess it would make sense the world is filled with magic. How else would we have the energy to cast spells?’

He hopped along the rope bridges and saw a blinding light from down below the fortress.

On the ground, a group of elves stood around watching a large spot of light slowly die out. The bright grey light faded into the ground as he stared with rapt attention.

The newly cleared soil showed itself after the display of magic and clearing of smoke and the much duller figure finally stood out enough for him to take notice.

Cinera stood nearby the smoking spot of earth with the same grey glow that had just drawn his attention.

Her red skin was barely visible through the dense glow that was only covered slightly by the strange ashen clothes that seemed to refuse to let the light out.

‘The stuff was mana conductive if I remember correctly. That kind of confirms it for me I guess.’

The salamander threw some more magic around her in a display of mastery before finally finishing up, much to the crowd’s and Egosum’s displeasure.

With the show done, he traveled back to the room in an attempt to stop his mind from exploding thanks to the ever-present stimuli and sat in silence.

Hours passed as he let the mana pour from him like an endless well before the various glows started to finally disappear.

His anxiety started to calm for the first time since the new discovery when he felt his stomachache for the first time in days.

The crates around him felt even more appealing than when he first smelt the bulbitis in the alchemical shop. His cravings shined their glowing heads, but he fought them back with all the willpower he could muster.

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His body had lost much of its blinding glow, only to be replaced by a dimmer one.

His mind raced from confusing topic to confusing topic before he gave in at last.

He flew through the air and deep into a fresh crate of frogbit.

Stems flew into the air and loud chomps filled the room as he went to town on the innocent fruits. Coyotl popped his head up to look at his friend before going back to work on his own.

The feast before Egosum rapidly diminished as he knocked crate after crate out. The empty wooden boxes stood still with plant matter strewn about.

He looked around in a gluttonous haze. A bright glow to the side caught his attention.

Coyotl sat nearby, staring at the final crate of frogbit with an intense desire barely hidden behind his eyes.

Even in his ravenous state, the look of his friend watching the final box broke him free of the desires that dominated his mind.

“Do you want it? I think I am full, it just has to catch up to me now.” The frog's eyes glowed with interest at his question.

Taking that as a yes, Egosum nodded to it and watched his friend leap into the frogbit with unbridled glee.

He sighed with unrestrained desire.

Cinera walks through the entrance and scuttles to the side to rest after the long day’s work.

“Hello, what have you been up to today?” The question felt more probing than he was expecting.

“I went out to look around and ate a bit of the reward. Nothing much.”

“I see.” The response was long and drawn out as she glanced around the room. "So, you ate just a bit?”

“Yeah, till we felt full. Coyotl is still going at it actually.” He nodded his head back in his friend's direction as light noises filtered out of the box.

“Right. I didn’t know a bit was multiple times your body weight in frogbit.” The sarcastic comment jogged his memory slightly as he looked back at the carnage he caused.

“Yeah, I guess you are right.” The response seemed to fail at easing her suspicions.

“So, nothing else happened? Nothing that would require you to eat a ton of mana-rich herbs?”

‘I guess the secret is already out then.’

“Well, there was this one other thing. I developed a way to use my mana to see a weird glow all around the place. Things like the trees, bows, and your magic were pretty bright. Oh yeah, and I am like a bonfire right now."

She looked at him with a strange glint in her eyes.

“What about my clothes? Are they bright?” The question gave a strong hint that she already knew the answer.

“No, it is pretty dull compared to everything else. Almost devoid of it.”

“I see. It might be mana sight, but that doesn’t make much sense. It usually takes a very long time of being surrounded with mana to even catch a wisp of magic with just your eyes. How are you doing it?” He looked at her for a few seconds before shrugging slightly.

Cinera sighed at the useless response.

“I felt you do something earlier, was that it?” It was his turn to look at her strangely.

‘How had she felt anything? Was it the qi I let flow out?’

“Yeah, I don't really know what I did to cause the change but it just kind of happened when I was thinking about some stuff. It really wasn’t anything.”

“Fine, you don’t need to tell me. I am pretty sure it is mana sight, but it is pretty advanced and, apparently, it can drive you crazy if you look too deeply into unknown mana. Something about a confluence of thoughts in a mortal mind makes you loopy. I don't know.”

“I thought it was something like that. It's nice to have a second opinion. Thank you.” Egosum nodded his head in appreciation and watched her crawl into a ball in the corner. He would need to avoid looking too deeply into the glows if she was telling the truth, but nothing he had seen yet looked like it could drive him insane.

“I am tired from doing magic all day. I need to recharge and go to sleep.” She turned away from her companions and went silent.

‘I guess that is her way of saying leave me alone.’

With nothing to do in the room and no one to converse with, he headed outside to explore the darkening forest.

The dim lights did little to hamper his newly enhanced sight, letting him explore the quickly emptying walkways without fear.

It went from a bustling treetop city to a ghost town amongst leaves. His world had been so busy recently that he merely sat around enjoying the serenity the massive trees offered.

The odd guard with a fireless lantern or running child would momentarily steal his attention yet the peace soon became hard to break regardless of the disturbance.

The canopy above him glowed despite the dampening of his mana sight. His curiosity peaked and he found himself climbing the trees to view the obscured sky.

The world that welcomed him was beyond any of his wildest expectations. The setting sun seemed to leak mana across the planet's entire surface with an enigmatic sheen.

It seemed to be completely devoid of any taint by a particular school of magic. The purity of it fed the world that it came into contact with, sinking into the leaves, wood, and even him.

He was truly calm for the first time in a while watching the breathtaking spectacle. The world felt perfectly created in the singular moment.

The setting star in the distance stole his breath away in a sigh as he watched it fall beneath the horizon.

His body was finally completely free of the tension he had unknowingly been holding onto for dear life.

The waves of mana flowing in the sky ceased billowing free as the last vestiges of the sun disappeared from sight.

An awkward dryness overtook the area around him. Without the presence of the mana saturating the air, he found the world much blander than ever before. The leaves below abruptly lost all of their colorful glow as the mana receded into the wood.

He nearly left the treetops when a cool sensation replaced the warm mana from before. Behind his back, the large moon he had grown accustomed to watching set over the vernal pools in tadpolehood stole his attention away.

Waves of wispy and humid mana came pouring over the landscape and permeated the ground that the sun had just abandoned.

The beautiful, cooling sights washed through the leaves and into the world all around him.

The dichotomy that overtook the world must have been happening forever, just out of sight of all the people unable to watch the wondrous events taking place.

‘Is this how Master views the world now that his real eyesight is gone? Does that mean he was so interested in me because I was always this bright or was it something else?’

The memories of the old salamnderkin were still fresh in his mind. Despite all of the happenings lately, he refused to forget his roots.

The world he remembered might have been wiped from existence after his escape, but nothing was permanent, even his people's destruction if he had anything to say about it.