“Training round two!” Onelder yelled after they had finished their breakfast. Today’s lessons were the same as before, this time with Ethel joining in. The only real difference was at the end of the practice the plan was to hit Excalibur with everything they had left in them. Onelder would be joining them.
“Alright, so for this, we are going to try something new. I haven’t really covered this at all, but I’m guessing you’ve seen some of it by the Gryalth mages. It’s time to play around with synchronized channeling. I’m not sure Cal has fine enough control for this just yet, but may as well try in a safe environment.” Cal frowned as Onelder continued his explanation. “So the goal here is to combine the flow of our mana right as it leaves us, but before it truly forms the spell you are guiding it into. The real hard part comes from everyone involved guiding the new flow together. Snap calls in the middle of a raging fight where more than one person has to agree ain’t an easy thing to do. So even if we pull this off today, don’t expect to be using it anytime soon against the Gryalth. If I ain’t making myself clear on this, Twonger and I still have trouble with this, and we’ve been practicing for years.”
“Yes, we get it. What’s the next step?” Ethel cut in, annoyed.
“I really doubt it, but anyway, the Ethel, as soon as you see my channeling threads, I want you to focus on adding your mana to mine. Cal, once that happens, go ahead and try adding yours. In ya do it right, we feel a kind of mental link come from the mana flow itself. As soon as that happens, we need to guide the mana into a combined elemental blast onto Stan’s new toy. Stan, please raise the sword.” Onelder finished.
Cal watched his father lift the sword in front of himself and brace for another blast of mana. He looked over and Onelder and Ethel and saw Ethel trying and failing to join her channeling to his, and realized Onelder was probably right about his own chances, but he had no intention of letting that stop him from trying.
“I think I have it.” Ethel’s voice was just barely above a whisper. Cal thought she was right, though. The flow looked different. Two strands of mana were swirling around each other, threading themselves into a rope. He could see how this would make their channeling more than the sum of their parts, but the idea of controlling it seemed daunting. Nonetheless, it was his turn to join in, and he was going to take it.
Cal steadied himself and took a few deep breaths that he wasn’t sure he needed anymore, but they helped with the calming effect he was going for. He lifted his right hand and focused hard on the tip of his index finger. He was sure he had full control over a small, fully formed, and correctly shaped mana thread. He then, as delicately as anything he had ever done before in his many lifetimes, joined the thread with the other two and allowed it to begin intertwining itself with them.
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He felt the control of his mana shift and change, and then he felt both Onelder's and Ethel’s as well. Ethel’s mana reminded him of the time they had found Bug and how much he missed her in his early loops after she had passed. He could feel the trees around them, their roots slowly absorbing the water as small squirrels climbed through their branches. In complete contrast, Onelder’s flow was a mimic. It was grasping at both his own and Ethel’s and reflecting the force back at them. Finally, he felt their thoughts flow across the threads into him.
“Congrats, really didn’t think ya had it in ya.” Cal heard Onelder’s voice across one of the threads.
“I knew he could do it. He only pretends to be an idiot,” Ethel joined in.
“Thanks, I think. Now what?” Cal asked.
“Now we all focus. Based on the mana types we are using, I’m thinking something like the concept of a tree that had just been hit with lightning. We hit the sword with that combination and see what happens.” Onelder was starting to sound tired.
Cal pictured a giant tree being blasted apart by a mighty bolt of lightning, the resulting tree crushing other things in its path as the energy discharged into the air around it. He wasn’t sure all of these thoughts were exactly his. The melding of the control made it hard to separate what in the vision was his versus theirs, but he supposed that didn’t matter. In fact, their agreement on this was probably a good sign.
He felt Onelder release his thread, so he did the same, immediately followed by Ethel. The combined force hit the sword hard enough to make Stan take a step backward. That was the first time anyone had managed to do that so far. Stan grunted as he made the step.
“Dad, you okay?” Cal gasped the words out as it hit him just how tired he was too. He looked to his right and saw Onelder had already collapsed to the floor, and Ethel was now leaning on Frank for support.
“Yeah, but man, that was something. From my end, it looked like one of the blasts the full battalion of Gryalth battle mages through at Ralth when he fought them.” Stan stopped talking and froze.
“Dad! What’s wrong?” Cal forced his feet to move to his father.
Stan coughed several times and then looked at his son. “Sorry, I’m okay, that blast was enough to fully wake up Excalibur, it seems. Not all of his abilities are functional yet, but he’s now conscious enough to start giving me directions.” Stan reassured Cal.
“Yes, and I believe I am also strong enough to address you all without a go-between.” A voice radiated from the sword in Stan’s hand.