“Alright, toss me a ball of your lightning, but not too big. I don’t want to destroy the sword before I even know what I’m doing.” Stan said as soon as they were back at the camp. Stan hefted the sword to his shoulder, ready to swing.
Cal not one to argue with his dad generally, obliged and tossed one of his smaller lighting balls directly in front of the man. “Incoming!” He called as he did so.
Stan swung Excalibur directly into the charged explosive ball the second it appeared, and as it made contact, the sword glowed brightly, and the ball vanished without any explosive fanfare, not even a pop, just gone.
“Uh, what happened there?” Cal asked, not sure what he had seen. He had felt the mana dissipate, similar to when he combusted them, but that clearly hadn’t happened. Had the sword absorbed it somehow? He hoped so; if so, it could turn into an amazing weapon in their fight.
“Something happened when I sliced into your magic. Excalibur seemed more awake, I know that seems kind of insane to phrase it that way, but I don’t know what else to call it.” Stan answered with a look of confusion plastered across his face.
“Ah yes, famously, we live in a world of normal sensible things, where time doesn’t restart every time Cal dies, and your family dog isn’t talking and helping us fight an alien invasion.” Jen only managed to hold her serious tone for half her statement, shaking her head and laughing by the end of it. Her point was made, though, and Stan had joined her in laughing at his own comparatively ridiculous statement given what their live reality had turned into.
“Cal, can you give me a few of the balls lined up? Same power. I don’t want to risk anything too crazy yet, but I’m going to try to absorb them as I hit them again.” Stan asked, and Cal once again did as requested. He lined up a dozen of his balls of lightning, ready for his dad to take his swings.
Stan stepped up to the first and just poked it instead of taking a swing. The ball vanished again, the same as the first time. He continued this across the remaining eleven. Each time, the sword glowed brightly and then faded back to normal. “Any happening.” Cal couldn’t see or feel any change in the sword himself.
“Only kind of. It just seems more awake each time. Not by much, though. It's like I keep getting a battery to nearly one percent, but not enough to actually turn the device on. Give me something bigger. Give me the most mana-dense ball you can make, and yes, I know this is likely a terrible idea, so place it underwater, and I’ll poke at it from above.” Stan answered and made another, this time much more dangerous request.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You sure?” Cal certainly wasn’t. Something packing that much mana could easily damage the area around them, not to mention possibly attracting the attention of the invaders on the surface above.
“No, but do it anyway.” Stan had a determined look on his face that Cal recognized from his first childhood. This was the face he wore when he had made his mind up about doing something despite the risk to himself. Cal had seen it less and less since Jen had entered the picture.
Cal leaned over the water’s edge and started channeling a large amount of mana into a spot below the surface. Taking what his father had asked for to heart, he spent the next couple of minutes packing in every bit he could without risking a premature explosion. “Dad, get over here. It’s got about a minute before it either explodes or falls apart!” He yelled back to Stan once he had hit his limit.
Stan ran over and quickly pushed the tip of the sword below the water and into the crackling mass of lightning just below the surface. Unlike the last several attempts, it didn’t instantly vanish. It instead seemed to dance along the edge of the blade, slowly climbing up the sword towards the hilt.
“Dad, drop the sword.” Cal’s voice had a twinge of panic in it. This wasn’t remotely something that he had worried about.
“No, something’s happening, can’t leeettt goooo!” Stan’s teeth were gritted, and those last words had been forced out. The electricity had reached his hands, but instead of climbing further, it started melting into the hilt around where he gripped the sword. Soon all of the mana had been absorbed across the entirety of it.
When the last bit vanished, the sword ignited in a bright blue glow that covered the entire cavern. Seconds later, it was over, and Stan slumped backward to the ground. He dropped the sword next to him. He looked exhausted.
“You okay Dad?” While Cal was still somewhat worried that had been mostly replaced by relief that nothing had exploded or been electrocuted.
“Kind of. Holy shit I see why the mana core stuff takes so much out of all of you.” Stan wheezed out of the words.
“Wait, did you form a core?” Cal had a shocked expression on his face.
“No, the sword has its own core, and when it was exposed to that much mana, it was enough to bring it fully awake briefly. It was long enough for it to tell me it welcomed me as its bearer and that the more mana it was able to inject, the sooner it would return to full awareness. To help with this, it bonded me to its own internal core somehow. I couldn’t explain the process if I tried, but god damn, did it hurt.” Stan winced in pain as he spoke.
“Welcome to the world of a magic wielder, I think,” Cal said with a smile on his face, trying to lighten his dad’s pain. While that appeared to do nothing in that regard, the soup Albert brought moments later did, though.