Chapter 48 The Lawn Ornament
Fifteen minutes later, she awakened lying on the couch in the living room. She tried to sit up, but immediately regretted it when a pounding headache made the room spin, forcing her to flop back down. She laid still, eyes closed for five more minutes, until the headache died down enough to sit up. Right when she sat up, Meira and Elizabeth entered the room with worried expressions.
Upon seeing her awake, they rushed over to check on her. “How are you feeling?” Inquired Elizabeth.
“I have a nasty headache, but otherwise, I’m fine,” responded Evernya before groaning from the sensory overload.
“You suffered a major backlash when your telekinesis cut.” Explained Meira from her position, kneeling on the floor in front of Evernya.
“I thought you said you guys would stop me before I injured myself?” Evernya questioned as her headache diminished.
Meira hesitated for a second before answering. “We didn’t because everything was fine until that second. The readings estimated a max range of over twenty meters, which is solid for a mage of your experience, but your magic cut at exactly five meters without warning. Normally when a mage approaches their max range, their control frays until they lose all control, causing their magic to fizzle out.”
“So, what is wrong with me? Even my mind was warning me to avoid going further.” Evernya inquired.
Elizabeth and Meira glanced at each other, coming to an unhappy answer. “Do you remember when I explained the Magical system and the limitations they impose?” Asked Meira, treading lightly.
Evernya nodded in confusion, a little slow to understand for the lingering effects of the mental backlash. “Well, our theory is we stumbled upon one of your limitations. We should have seen this sooner since all your panic attacked had a limited radius of damage.” Meira continued as understanding dawned on her kitten.
“So, I can’t use my magic beyond five meters!?” Evernya questioned as the beginnings of a panic attack emerged.
“As much as I would love to say otherwise, all evidence points to a five-meter hard limit,” Meira replied with a pained expression.
Evernya flashed back to the DIOM duel on TV, with the duelists never standing within ten meters of each other. Tears formed in Evernya’s eyes as her world came crashing down. She took a deep breath to rein them in, but lost the battle as she broke down into violent sobs.
Meira pulled her into a hug to comfort her, letting her cry into her shoulder. The muffled sobs of Evernya continued for over twenty minutes until she ran out of energy. Depleted, she laid lifelessly limp in Meira’s embrace with a dead look in her eyes.
Elizabeth stared at the scene with tears running down her cheeks, but she wiped them away to put up a strong front for her patient and friend. “Everything will be all right, Evernya. I know it seems hopeless, but even with this disability, you are in an extraordinarily powerful young woman with a bright future, so don’t give up.” Elizabeth encouraged.
Elizabeth’s encouragement fell on deaf ears as Evernya screamed in hysterics. “I will never become strong enough to roam the world! Anyone can stand five meters away from me, and I’m harmless! What if everyone finds out my weakness and exploits it!? It won’t matter if I have all the power in the world when I can’t hit anything beyond five meters! No one will fear someone with an easily exploitable weakness! How will I hunt for myself!? I have to be right on top of my prey to hit them! Who cares if I have all this magic when I can barely use it! Am I even a mage at all?”
“Evernya, calm down!” Ordered Meira as Elizabeth scrambled to store away the fragile items floating into the air.
“Why? It’s not like it matters. My dreams are impossible now! My goal was to make a name for myself for being so powerful no one would mess with me so I could roam freely! I wanted to explore this world to my heart’s content, but that’s all gone now. I’m a failure as a mage. I can’t hit anything over five meters away, and I’m a failure as a shifter, because I can’t even shift! What good am I if I am a failure at everything?” Ranted Evernya as magic ripped out of her uncontrollably, forcing Elizabeth to create a water shield to protect herself from the twister of force.
Meira, seeing no other choice to calm her kitten down, released the full force of her mana aura onto the hysterical girl. “I SAID, CALM DOWN!”
Immediately Evernya’s body seized up with fear, causing her magic to disappear, sparing the room of significant damage. Meira yelled at her frozen kitten to knock some sense into her. “You are not a failure! So what if you have a disability! That doesn’t mean your dreams are impossible! You are the most talented person I have ever seen in my 336 years alive! You can achieve anything! If someone doubts you, prove them wrong! If someone tries to take advantage of your disability, find their weaknesses, and exploit them back! No one is perfect! Everyone has a weakness! So what if yours is more obvious! Your talent more than makes up for it! Why do you think you have your disability in the first place!? It’s because you are too powerful! Whoever controls the System fears you would break the balance, so they tried to knock you down! Fight back by finding ways around your disability! You have the tools to do it! You are not alone in this! You have people who will support you as you find your place in the world!” Meira ranted at the frozen girl, hurt by her kitten’s willingness to give up.
Meira sucked her mana aura back in and hugged her kitten. “I won’t allow you to give up! You have so much talent we will not allow you to waste it by giving up! I know it's hard to see it yourself, but I know you can achieve all your goals.” Meira proclaimed with tears in her eyes.
Evernya, too emotional to say a word, continued to cry within Meira’s warm embrace, releasing all her emotions into Meira’s soaked shoulder. Unable to control herself, Elizabeth joined in on the hugging crying session sandwiching Evernya. As Evernya’s tears ran out, she drifted off to sleep within the warm and loving embrace of the two women, wholly drained, emotionally and physically.
Evernya awakened back in her bed over two hours later, fully recovered, with an even stronger determination to become stronger.
Meira’s right, the only reason I have this disability is because of my potential. Nothing has changed. I am just aware of it now. Who cares if I have a range limit? I’ll become the best I can be within it. Let them try to avoid my range, I’ll bring the fight to them! A hands-on fighting style is more exciting anyway. Sniping people from a hundred meters away with no effort feels boring and cheap.
Evernya hopped off her bed, brimming with energy to begin her journey to become stronger. She trotted downstairs in search of a certain elf who could help her accomplish her goals. First, she checked the living room, then the kitchen, finding both devoid of elves.
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She stopped under the arch separating the kitchen and living room, facepalming herself. I keep thinking like a human. I have a super nose now! Why am I trying to find her manually?
Evernya returned to the living room to pick up Meira’s scent from her favorite spot on the couch. Her scent reminds me of forests. I can’t pin down what it exactly smells like, but it’s something I would smell if was standing in the middle of a forest. A very elf-like scent. Even living in a modern house, she can’t change the fact she is an elf.
With the scent memorized, she twitched her nose to pick up the freshest scent trail. She caught dozens of separate trails, but the freshest one led into the kitchen and out the sliding door to the backyard.
Who needs electronic trackers when you have a nose like this. I can single out any semi-fresh trail and follow it anywhere. My scent tracking must be from genetic memory or instinct because there’s no way I could run my complex nose otherwise.
Once outside on the patio, the midafternoon summer heat assaulted her body. The blistering heat tempted her to retreat into the nice and cool house and wait for her elf, but her curiosity won out. She placed her bare feet onto the cool grass, closing her eyes to enjoy the soft grass brushing against the soles of her feet.
She allowed her senses to sharpen, relishing in the nature, no longer bothered by the heat. A quiet purr rumbled in her throat as she swayed in the wind with her eyes closed. Alone for the first time outside of her own will, she realized just how powerful her senses were. Off in the distance, she could hear unfamiliar animal calls and the chirping of birds. What was thankfully missing was any human-made sound pollution. Only nature existed within the vast range of her senses. Her nose picked up countless wondrous scents, including a certain luring scent originating toward Meira’s giant football-field-sized garden on the far right side of the yard.
Several minutes passed with her enjoying nature before she continued her Elven search mission. Walking down the yard, she passed the weighted balls right where she left them scattered in the yard. She took her time following the scent while enjoying the scenery. Eventually, Meira’s scent led her to the vast lake a hundred meters from Meira’s house. She stepped onto the wooden dock, stopping at the end as Meira’s scent led out into the water.
She surveyed her surroundings, but found zero elves within sight. Even with her keen eyesight, all she could see was rippling water. Not even the opposite coast was visible. Careful to avoid falling in, Evernya sat on the edge of the dock, dipping her feet into the cold, crystal-clear water. The water was so clear that she could spot schools of small fish swimming about within its depths. Drool threatened to escape as she imagined a tasty fish dinner magnified by the scents of countless fish tickling her nose.
To avoid jumping in, she returned her thoughts to where her elf snuck off. She either took a boat or flew out onto the lake. I don’t know if my nose is strong enough to pick up her scent if she went swimming, but the smell remains the same, even out into the water, so I don’t think she went swimming.
Before she could change her mind about a swimming session, she climbed to her feet and trotted back toward the house. As fantastic as a dip in the water would feel, I have no idea what sort of sea monster lurks below. I’m sure this skintight suit would make an excellent swimsuit. At least I think this suit is waterproof. It would suck to fry the computer. Either way, I’m better off doing something productive, like practicing my magic.
I wonder, can I throw things with Telekinesis beyond my range? It’s worth testing, hopefully without triggering more backlash, but some pain now is better than during a fight.
She spent a few minutes ferrying the dozen weighted balls to the center of the yard, some physical others with her telekinesis. Once satisfied, she was far enough away from anything she could damage apart from a few oak trees, she began her practice.
Evernya levitated one ball into the air before launching it with a powerful telekinetic push. She immediately cut her magic, allowing the ball to fly on its own. The ball shot off like a bullet hurtling toward the lake over fifty meters away, however without warning, the ball nailed an invisible wall precisely five meters from Evernya. Evernya clenched her eyes, bracing herself for the backlash.
A few seconds later, she peeked one eye open to find the ball harmlessly lying on the ground five meters in front of her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she physically retrieved the ball, afraid to use magic at that range.
Well, one myth busted no telekinetic catapult for me. I guess my range limit ignores the laws of physics. Does physics even exist here? Momentum and gravity seem to be a thing, so I’m assuming the laws of physics exist, but magic can circumvent them like with my turbo mode.
Curious, Evernya channeled mana to her arm, then chucked the ball as hard as she could. Similar to her telekinetic throw, the ball hurled away from her with surprising quickness. Just like the previous throw, all momentum abruptly disappeared upon impacting an invisible barrier at five meters, dropping harmlessly to the ground.
Evernya’s previous calm melted away with a sudden burst of anger. She glared at the ball with unrestrained rage burning in her brightly shining sapphire eyes. Deep within Evernya’s mana core, a power stirred awake, flooding her body with blazing blue mana. With an eardrum popping roar, she unleashed a massive explosion of force in all directions, sending all the remaining balls flying.
When the dust settled, Evernya was standing in the middle of a large, perfectly round, hollow sphere almost exactly ten meters in diameter. Embedded along the widest inner diameter of the sphere of debris were the weighted balls without a scratch.
Upon catching her breath from the sudden mana expenditure, Evernya spun in a circle to take in the brown and green sphere with awe. All her previous anger gone with the explosion of force.
Evernya ran her hand along the surface, marveling at how smooth the compacted dirt was. I made a giant sphere of dirt? I can work with this much power, even with my range limit! This type of damage would leave a mark on anyone! I can barely scratch the walls with my claws!
Evernya used a concentrated blast of force to blast an exit of her dirt sphere after finding physical digging too difficult. Once escaped, she investigated the outside, leaving her speechless. Like the inside, the outside was a perfectly round and smooth dome of dirt and grass. Her awe soon turned into fear and panic as realization finally set in.
I destroyed an enormous chunk of Meira’s backyard! What do I do? Even if I destroy the dome, the dirt won’t fill the crater! Will she be mad at me?
After her brief panic attack, her logical mind took over. I guess all I can do is wait for her to return and hope for the best. At least I destroyed nothing besides a chunk of her yard. Good thing I picked an empty spot. I didn’t even damage any trees. I may as well get some practice in while I wait.
Evernya poked her head into the hole in the dome to telekinetically grab a few weighted balls. Once she retrieved six balls, she jumped up to the top of the dome to practice.
An hour later, Meira returned to her dock, riding a sailboat with a massive twenty-meter long snake dragged behind her boat. She secured the boat to the pier before floating the huge blue snake onto the shore. The snake dropped to the ground with earth rumbling thud upon spotting the dome of dirt in the middle of her backyard. She stared, mouth agape in shock for several seconds with her kitten mirroring her while staring at the massive blue snake.
“How did you do this!? You aren’t an earth sorceress!” Meira yelled up to the frozen girl sitting cross-legged on the top of the dome.
After recovering from her shock of the snake, Evernya slid down the dome, slowly walking toward her Elven keeper with her tail between her legs and head down.
“It’s ok I’m not mad I just want to know how you did it,” Meira reassured her kitten.
Still feeling guilty, Evernya explained the previous events. “After I followed your scent to the dock, I practiced a little. I tried testing if I could throw objects beyond my range, but found I can’t physically or magically launch anything beyond five meters. Feeling suffocated by the range limitation, I snapped. The next thing I remember is standing inside this sphere. The inside of the dome is a hollow sphere following the edge of my range where I was standing.”
Meira walked past Evernya to the dome to investigate. She ran her hand over it before using air magic to cause a few slight scratches.
Meira returned her attention to her guilty kitten submissively standing behind her. “With your mana grade, this dome shouldn’t be impossible. You compacted the dirt to the point it is practically stone.”
Meira stuck her head in the meter-wide hole facing the lake to retrieve a weighted ball. With her materialized tablet, she retrieved data from the ball. Immediately after scanning through the readings, she dropped the ball and tablet in shock.