An idea struck me then. The ability to control any path to power at its smallest unit was almost unheard of. Even Velexa hadn’t shown this as a Grand mage. What if I shot those strands at the formation of her spell? Wouldn’t it slow her down?

No, not at your gate. The level of suppression is too high.

Damn, well, at least Mundara saved me the effort. Instead, I took free strands I could command and covered the opening we made. It had to offer some protection, right? We were on the other side of the door, but Velexa was casting something I’d rather not think about.

With this escape, I’d leave behind this realm of imprisonment. Avoiding the sentence of the black oracle mark, I’d stand as a testament to the indomitable spirit that could be kindled within the human soul. The mastery of my aura had granted me freedom, a renewed sense of control, and a determination to defy the forces that had deemed me unworthy and worthless.

We were almost there. We passed through a mountainside illusion formed of mana. Usually, that would trap us; without Methuselah, we would be. Her senses couldn't be deceived. Just as we cleared it, as the sun's rays graced my face for the first time in two days, a dreadful noise echoed behind me.

Those nearly impenetrable doors? Obliterated, and whatever was left was coming at us fast. Methuselah formed an almost solid sheet of aura drops around us. A wall of roots came up just behind it. As for me, seeing no other options, I took every available strand and layered them behind the root wall.

This new control of aura was going to give me a different destiny, one where I stayed alive. No deranged grand mage was going to stand in my way. Plus, I owed Silas a shocking surprise somewhere down the line.

My path was uncertain, but with each strand of aura under my command, I possessed the means to shape my fate and carve out a future that belonged solely to me. I had accepted this path; this was the way for me now, even if it meant standing against a world teeming with mages.

Our triple-tiered defense held up for a moment, but only just. Gelben pivoted so his arms crossed in front of him, facing the incoming torrent of swirling blue water that resembled an all-consuming ocean, aiming to drown the three of us whole. Bracing for impact would decide whether we came out of this alive or not.

The pair leaped backward just as the mana water wall was about to hit them. Mana burns were instantly inflicted on me. The power of the brand immediately got to work, healing what it could, with aura strands coursing to my skin, reinforcing my defenses. Bones snapped, and again, I had to cling onto Gelben using aura strands. Those things were able to take an insane level of pressure, judging how none of them broke, even now.

The two of them had it even worse. They weren’t kidding when they said taking on Velexa was impossible. Surely, the folks at the citadel would notice this chaos, right? We were beyond the illusion barrier; nothing hid this raw mana display from the outside world.

Methuselah wasn’t moving much, but she was breathing, and that was a relief to me. Gelben was better off and healed faster, too. If anything, the elf was an unstoppable force. His power path allowed him to recover far quicker. Grasping the situation's urgency, I detached from Gelben, ignoring my broken bones. My legs worked; it would have to be enough.

I infused everything I had into my legs, using both power sources. Then aura strands emerged, and lifting Methuselah with them, she was affixed to my back this time. Using the aura breath technique and breathing in more aura, I was refilling almost instantly, then feeding more aura back to her, much like I did at the beginning of this whole escape.

“Get further away from here with her! Let’s go!” Gelben bellowed.

Gelben could move, but even I had an easy time with the speed. We were now out in the mountains, surrounded by snow. The two of us bounded down the slope while a blizzard raged against us. The swirls of various energies were practically scorching the world.

Gelben was about to collapse; my soundscape could tell. He put on a solid front, but his breathing was too shallow. He wasn’t going to stop here. I would make sure of it. As he was about to fall, my other shoulder took him on. We either managed this together or died together.

I extended my aura strands around him, too. His weight was heavy on me, but we were determined to make it. Just as I seriously began to think so, this damn world wanted to prove me wrong repeatedly.

“Just stop struggling. Failure of the Conmor’s.”

For the first time, I felt no fear at that voice. I sent an aura strand soaring into the sky, infusing it with the intent to explode. A resounding thunderclap echoed for miles around. I decided to trust that others would hear it and come looking. Those at the citadel, if they didn’t know something was happening here by now, they didn’t deserve to continue the path of power. I’ve done all I could at this point.

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“They won’t make it, you know. Your path ends here, young exile.” Velexa was a haggard mess; her robes were torn, and blood came from her mouth. She was showing signs of mana depletion. Her two mana globes were gone, just like all her summons. The soundscape made her rough breath obvious. My aura perception showed that the mana inside of her was like a dim candle. That spell must’ve taken all out of her. That didn’t mean I stood any chance against her, though.

A grand mage was someone who had ascended four times. Mundara hadn’t made it clear, but I’d bet gates were the same thing for aura users. And I hadn’t even broken the first one. Maybe some more accumulation was needed, but that required time, something I’d not had enough of.

Could I stall for time? Probably not enough. What about using my strands to… well, what exactly could my strands do? Could they cut spells? Or at least mitigate them? What if... what if I used them for movement?

That could work. The other ways relied on interactions I had no idea about, but attaching a strand to physical objects was something I’d done multiple times. There were rocky outcroppings around here, still near the mid-section of the snowy peak we were on. That wasn’t possible with my two fellow escapees on my back, though.

While I was stupidly overthinking in front of the most powerful mage I’d ever met, she hurled a simple mana bolt at me. Even with all my honing, the speed at which the bolt came was too fast for my information channels to let me react adequately.

In a split second, I managed to put a single strand of aura between me and the bolt. The strand was obliterated; it could just be my imagination, but the bolt slowed and got slightly weaker. Still, the bolt hit me straight in the chest. The mana depletion may be at fault, but the bolt wasn’t even attributed to water like Velexa usually did.

The impact threw us into the air, heading straight for a prominent outcrop of rocks. Gelben pulsed green for a second, and the impact was moderately softened by the plant growth placed there. The three of us hit the now plant-covered outcropping. The strands I had wrapped around the two were accidentally let loose, having them fly a short distance from me.

Both were still alive; their shallow breath sounded like a flickering candle. I couldn’t worry about that right now. My own condition was a mess; mana burns were all over my chest, which was now bleeding heavily. My brand was pumping out nature’s essence to the wound like crazy. The bleeding slowed from this but didn’t stop.

Dodge.

Heeding Mundara's timely warning, I blasted aura to my right foot and practically rocketed from where I was. It was a good thing, too, seeing as it was a smoking crater by the time my touch domain could tell me what happened. The high-intensity combat only highlighted the need for my information channels to become faster. Much faster.

Judging by the bounce of the sound, I attached an aura strand to another rocky outcropping, repeatedly pushing aura to my legs and feet, then played a game of cat and mouse with Velexa. She was furious, muttering crazily about how dare a traitor resist.

This wasn’t going to work, though; she was ramping up how many mana bolts she was sending my way, morphing them to lances for additional speed. But her impatience got the best of her. She changed tactics, casting a mana barrier around herself; she then executed a mana step, instantaneously placing herself in front of me. Her right hand, pulsating with gathered mana, clenched onto my head. She began to burn mana into me directly.

"You should be proud, you know. You've managed to stall me this long," she snarled, "I may not survive this, and you can take credit for that. But you're not leaving here alive either, you traitor. How dare you disgrace a lineage of mages! Your mother was considering forgiving you, accepting you had no talent for the path of mana.”

The agonizing pain jumbled my thoughts. Aura was rushing to my head, trying to slow the overloading mana being burned into me. Nature’s essence, unfortunately, was too busy making sure I didn’t bleed out. The blue veins I had once eradicated reappeared, etching their way back onto my skin. A surge of unfamiliar memories overwhelmed me, fragments of a conversation with Elnara that I didn't remember having. At least…I didn’t think so.

One day, I’ll understand? Too much is at stake? I can’t keep desiring to use mana? She kissed me? That’s what the tingling feeling in the back of my head always was? That was the seal?

"Hmm? Curious," Velexa mused, "my underlings did mention some seal. Let's break it open, shall we? The holy mark the oracle divined on you will finally bear its wrath on you, Vermin.”

An internal shattering was heard in my mind, and then, like a dam breaking, the memories came flooding in. Exiled from the family at ten since I couldn’t use mana. The intense desire to be accepted by them again. My stubbornness about wanting to use mana worried Elnara, Verdenia, and the others too much. They wanted me to accept aura fully and forget about my desire for mana completely. . I also remembered that playful woman stealing my first kiss. Given her antics, I couldn't tell if it was a final tease from her or something necessary for the seal.

The puzzle pieces finally fell into place. That sense of something missing after emerging from the mindscape that day had persisted, never entirely disappearing. And the mana demon, our conversation, the chains that bound him everywhere. But with Velexa breaking the seal, didn’t that mean…

As the seal within my mind shattered, a swirling vortex of dark mana erupted. Coalescing into a fearsome entity. The mana demon, who was now back with a vengeance.

A voice that wasn’t mine came from my throat, “Oh, what have we here? A gift?" Then, an eternal smile took over my face. Verdenia's mana wasn't scorching me any longer; instead, it was being drawn in...by me, yet not quite me. My mind state changed, going from actively in control to passively watching; just as I was free from a prison in the real world, I found a new one within my mind instead.

Not good.