What I saw unfold before my eyes, could only be described as another world. I was different from when I used my Inner energy. No, this time, I didn't merely 'see' new colors, no, this time I could 'see' different entities flying about.
Not one, not two, but countless entities filled the sky, some were on the ground, others in the trees. The entities almost felt like spirits, some had a vaguely humanoid shape, while others looked to have no form at all, simply appearing as a wisp of sorts instead.
The strange entities were in different colors, some red, some grey, some yellow, others green, then there were the blue ones. Countless wisp-like entities surrounded me affectionately. I could somehow sense their intention as they stuck closer to me, forming a barrier of sorts that prevented most other entities from approaching me.
'Are these the different mana elements?' I wondered in uncertainty as I glanced at the different world before me. The plane suddenly felt a lot 'bigger' than before. I always had a vague inkling that the mana was sentient, the scene before me just seemed to confirm my guesses.
Turning my attention towards grandmother in curiosity, caused me to suddenly paused in surprise. The elements that surrounded her were grey ones alongside a few that looked almost to be almost pink? Still, I was not surprised by her seemingly dual elements, I was mostly amazed by how docile and calm her elements appeared to be compared to mine.
The only way to compare them was as If my water elements were a bunch of undisciplined little children running about happily around me. Hers on the other hand looked like a small army standing in a formation ready to protect her from whatever may intend to do her harm.
While there weren't many elements surrounding her, I noticed that the ones that did looked significantly larger than the ones around me. If my wisp-shaped elements were the size of a palm, hers were the size of an entire arm, all with various distinct forms, none appeared to have that vague wisp-shape my elements had.
Grandmother noticed my stare and smiled at me, before ushering me with her head towards the sky. Curious, I followed her gaze subconsciously only to pause in shock. 'How the hell did I miss that?!' I almost shouted out loud.
There flowing in the sky was the mana stream itself! It was clearly visible this time, as It appeared like an abnormally large rainbow river with various colors of all shades. I could vaguely see the countless elements swimming about alongside the stream. The fascinating part of It all was the fact that the mana stream seemed to be connected to the plane below by various small threads, threads that carried the elements down and up from It.
It was as If a whole new world unraveled before my eyes. I subconsciously took a step back as an abnormally large earth element slowly passed by. Surprisingly, my water elements instantly gathered around me, tightening the barrier that 'protected' me as they turned to 'glare' at the giant earth element.
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A chuckled almost escaped my mouth as I saw that. 'Is It because of you little fellas that I can't use another element?' I wondered. It was then that I remembered, there was something that bugged me, and now was the best time to test It out.
I slowly reached out to the water mana in my surroundings, curious to see how that would 'look' with my new vision. To my surprise, my whole body seemed to glow with a faint unfamiliar color causing the happy water elements to almost turn crazy as they fought against one another to rush towards me.
Surprised, I almost immediately paused my summoning causing the faint glow that surrounded me to slowly die out, the water elements seemed to finally calm down, as they returned to simply flocking around me. It was then that grandmother turned her attention towards me and spoke.
"You see now little Aether, while your affinity with mana could only be described as monstrous, your control over It is still severely lacking. We are not even near a water source, yet you already have so many water elements surrounding you, that's impressive, but, If you don't learn to control It," Shaking her head, grandmother continued.
"If you don't learn to control It then It will only turn into a disadvantage instead," She explained solemnly to which I nodded in understanding, before slowly asking. "Grandmother, I don't see a lot of elements surrounding you?" I asked cautiously. Although I understood what she said about control, I was still a bit curious about the elements around her as they all had their distinct shapes.
Scratching her chin in a surprisingly human-like way, grandmother slowly explained. "Well, in my case little Aether, I prefer quality over quantity," She said causing me to silently mumble. "Quality?"
"To put It in simple terms, think of the elements as dragons, the little ones surrounding you are all younglings, while the ones around me are the elders," She said with a wide grin. My eyes widened in surprise as I watched her elements suddenly make a move.
One that had a vaguely humanoid shape stirred as I could 'see' a thin thread appear linking It with the gigantic mana stream above. Almost instantly, countless wind elements seemed to teleport towards grandmother's location using that thin thread.
It was but for a mere instant, but the number of elements that surrounded grandmother was already way beyond what I had around me. I gulped unconsciously, even though she had a lot more encompassing her, I could see that she was in total control over them, instead of letting them blindly flock around her, grandmother chose to gather them into a strict formation of sorts.
Gazing at her in awe, I was surprised to see that the wind elements were a small distance away from her body, while the almost pink-colored element stuck closer to her. Unable to reign in my curiosity, I asked carefully. "Grandmother, you can use two elements?"
Smiling she nodded in confirmation. "Indeed, I'm not surprised you can see It," I paused for a second before asking hesitantly. "Grandmother, your second element seems a little bit familiar, but I'm not very sure..." I hesitated for a second. Her element was indeed familiar, the color, in particular, reminded me of the charming pink dragoness Linyss back in my naming ceremony.
'Though, for some reason, I don't think it's the same element,' I inwardly noted. Although the colors seemed somewhat similar, I had a nagging feeling that they were not the same.
"Hmm, you are curious about my second element? Well, no harm in showing you, It's with It that I can sneak into the Gods plane unnoticed, otherwise, It would be a pain," She mumbled the last part to herself. I nodded excitedly as I waited for her to showcase the strength of this strange element.