CHAPTER 28: A NEW CONSTRUCT

Hiro's eyes opened and she was momentarily disoriented. They were still in the meditation room, locked together forehead to forehead. Each with a hand reaching out to rest where the center of their magic was held within themselves.

Moria didn't open her eyes right away. Hiro took a moment to study her physical face. It was the same as what she wore inside her center, but it also was vastly different. No scales ran down her cheeks. Her skin was a medium brown tone. Her hair matched the color of her scales, but she looked more human now. Hiro was close enough to see the pores on her skin.

Hiro decided she was beautiful in either form. Her eyes traced down the contours of her face and settled on her mouth that was so quick to smile and so quick to talk. Yet she had been so patient with her as she taught her about how she managed her mana. She had been drawn to her since the moment she had met her, but in this strange new world with new rules and magic, she didn't know what to do with that feeling.

Hiro startled a bit when Moria's eyes opened and caught her staring. She looked down at their intertwined legs a bit embarrassed. "What are you waiting for?" she whispered to Hiro.

Hiro's eyes grew in panic looking up at Moria then at her lips then back in her eyes searching. What was she waiting for? Did she want a kiss or something? What did she mean? "Um, I wasn't, I mean, what?" she ended weakly.

"We need to be in your center for this next part, bring me in," Moria said with a bemused half smile, "You said you have had the professor in there the past two days. Sure you know how to bring another person in by now?"

Hiro wasn't sure if she was disappointed by Moria's response, then she scolded herself internally, "Get a hold of yourself, you might have been single for too long, but that's no excuse, she's a friend helping you out. You have way bigger things to worry about." Then out loud she spoke to Moria, "Kinda, the professor talked me through it, but the headband things do most of the work and the Professor does most of that."

Moria shook her head making both their foreheads turn as she did so. "It's alright, it's not that hard. Just reach out with whatever mana you can control like when you helped me with the anomaly. Then drag the connection I extend back in with your power. Easy."

"Yeah, sure," Hiro replied skeptically before closing her eyes and reaching out with the power she could control.

It was incredibly easy. Hiro and Moria's power intertwined so well that when she reached out it welcomed her along with no problem. Soon they were within Hiro's center. Hiro appeared first and she looked around at the dim cavern she had spent the last two days in. It paled in comparison to Moria's grotto of power. Sure it had an impressive lake with three cores within, but that was the only thing of note. Hiro resolved to change that after her core situation was fixed.

Moria appeared once again in her mermaid form and looked around. "I feel like I'm back in the Concept Caverns," She joked as she looked around.

"Um yeah, I guess this is what I think about when I think of magic because that's where I learned about it. So this is what it looks like." Hior said awkwardly.

"That makes sense, as you develop your power your true self will also develop and your soul will follow," Moria said swimming toward the lake of cores. "This though," she said gesturing, "This is awesome!" Hiro followed as Moria took a lap around the edge of the lake. "Three cores! And they're massive!"

Hiro told her how her concepts paired up and that the lake was the unformed water concept. Moria traced some of the tributaries with her eyes. "Fascinating. Each one of your cores is muted right now. The water absorbed their movement like it tried to join up with them but couldn't." She muttered examining the flows of power.

After a minute and a half of pondering while swimming around the perimeter, she turned to the silently trailing Hiro. "Alright, I want you to wade in there and start getting in tune with your power. Sing, dance, jiggle, whatever feels right to you once you're there. I will not be teaching you how to pull others into your core like I did with you until you have figured out this..." she trailed off gesturing at the mess of Hiro's power. "I'll just hang out over here and see if I can gain any insights from watching what you do. Once I feel like you have the hang of it, we will move on to construction."

"Alright... I'll just walk in there then," Hiro said nervously. She waded into the lake of power like she did when she found her fourth core. She continued to swim until she was in the middle of the three cores, the fourth residing somewhere beneath her kicking feet.

She just tried water for a minute trying to figure out what to do. It was nothing like what Moria's core looked like. How was she supposed to hear the proverbial music Moria likened it to?

"Just float!" Moria called helpfully, "Let the power do what it wants. Just feel it!"

Hiro pushed her hips forward and laid into a back float. Her ears were covered in mana, and she relaxed as she felt her power hold her up. The sound of the area changed just as it had the first time she plunged under the water mana. This time though she didn't have a goal. She floated and listened. The main sound she could hear was the rushing of water. Like pipes full of moving water. Slowly other rythems emerged discordant from one another. She pushed herself with small hand movements slightly in the direction of one of the beats. The one that sounded like a thunderstorm in summer. Rumbling deep within her mind. She was not surprised when she found herself next to the flashing lightning trapped within the core containing it.

She needed to be submerged so she swam back to the center of the lake and dipped down under the water. She could still see half of the three cores. This time she just observed them. Soon she saw the currents between them. Each one of them had small strands of power linking them together. Like they had tried to make connections but had been stopped by the water. There was also the strand of power being drawn down to her Time core below.

She moved toward it, it felt right. The closer she got the noise and more discordant everything seemed. She reached out and touched the mana strands. As her fingers touched it everything slid into tune. Like an orchestra warming up and ending on the same note. It wasn't perfect, the sound of water was still trying to drown out the combined power, but it was there. Hiro hummed the same note and felt the power stand beneath her hand warm and pulse with her humming.

She smiled wide. This felt right. Nothing had felt this right concerning her magic since she foolishly messed up her change in her exuberance. She sat with it for a moment. There were flaws in the hum. Things that weren't perfect, but just listening to all the power within her coming together and the vibrations working together made her so happy she would be crying if her body had been real in this moment.

After she had internalized what the cores were doing under the water she turned her attention to what the water was doing. Its whole vibe was off from the rest. If she wanted to keep it around she would need to mold it into what she needed it to be. Water liked moving and taking the shape of the container it was in. But she also needed to make sure the container would work with what it could already do and with what her cores had tried to become.

The visions she had seen had shown her the edge of this problem. Now she understood it better. She let the water mana wash her around in its current for a bit. Drifting where it took her. It felt unsettled in its movements. Pushing and pulling on the undercurrents of mana the cores were putting out, one moment trying to follow it the next pushing it away. It didn't know how to work with what had already been started in the change.

Hiro empathized with her water magic. If it could have feelings of being discordant coming into a new situation, Hiro felt like that too. She was thrown into a situation that already had rules and she had to figure them out as she went along. Just like her water magic, she would have to sink or swim her way out of it. She wasn't going to let either of them sink.

She floated to the surface and sat there for just a bit longer trying to distinguish when her water mana helped the rest of her power form when it muffled it. She thought back to when she to her light to reflect through the flooded channels. She had made her water mana work with her light. It had been restricted, but she was able to adjust it to work together. She'd need to do that with all her water going forward.

She stuck upon an idea. She had been making her construct out of her willpower. Something anyone able to meditate could do inside their center. But what if she could spin some of the power from her other orbs into that willpower? Moria had shown her how intent mattered. If she wanted to tune her water mana to the other concepts, shouldn't they be involved in the process? Excitedly she swam over to Moria and told her the idea.

"I don't see why that can't work. It's worth trying. I haven't tried to spin my magic into my willpower constructs inside myself, but you're in the unique situation of your magic not being blended. I say go for it." Moria responded. Hiro nodded excitedly and waded back into the pool. She'd need to be closer to her cores for this to work.

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She moved to her first and brightest core. It shone with white light, while flashes of colors associated with her Accuracy concept blinked on and off within. Not only was Light the first gold concept she had chosen after Time, but she wanted the insights her accuracy concept gave her as she constructed this version of a vessel for her water concept.

She lay a hand on the orb, watching listened to it instead of blindly grabbing for power as she had before. She grasped for a stream of the light. For a brief moment, she held a strand of iridescent light in her hand. Then it all streamed away bouncing off the ponds surface in a dazzling array. She tried again this time trying to adjust to how the mana wanted to move. She got a bit further this time. She began to weave it into her vessel when it tangled with her will and scattered again.

This time she decided to use her willpower from the start. She made a pair of wire drawing pliers out of her will. The construct took the form of flat pliers with a scoop down the center to hold firmly to the wire while drawing it through a plate. She grabbed the power for her core and this time took it much slower. As she drew out her power of light and accuracy she allowed it to move more. Instead of drawing it tight, she let it form a wave of light using the pliers to maintain a firm grip.

Soon she was forming her construct carving out a groove for the wave of light to inlay along its surface. As the base formed she kept feeding it power from the first core and set the whole construct to slowly spin. The power spooled across its surface and she felt her intent for it to continue to settle upon it. After several heartbeats, she was able to let go of the direct handling from her first core and let the power do as it was directed while she moved to the next core.

She looked at the other two cores debating which to do next. A flash of blue cycled across the surface of the metal orb containing her concept of magnetism. "This one next eh?" Hiro muttered as the accuracy concept she still had her hand on allowed her to see what would work best. Hiro swam over to it and lay a hand on its surface.

Out of all the concepts, this one was the least impeded by her water mana. Magnets simply worked whether they were in the water or not. Sure water could slow down metal trying to move through them, but the polarity and magnetic fields didn't care where they were as long as there wasn't an opposing field canceling it out.

She reached out a hand and touched this one trying to feel how it worked. This one reminded her of the machine shop. It smelled like metal and hummed like the surface grinder when the magnetic plate was turned on. She smiled as she thought of how she wanted to handle this one. She reformed the pliers in her hand into one of the magnetic rods they used to pick up fasteners that had fallen on the floor or gotten stuck in places. She willed it to have the strongest magnet she could think of in the end.

As it formed the end clanged against the metal core. She grinned as she carefully pulled. She was surprised when it came away covered in metal flakes coming from it in two arcs visually displaying the magnetic concept in a way she could see. She held it there for a moment contemplating how to build this into her vessel.

In science class, what did the pictures of Earth's magnetic field look like? Her brow furrowed as she remembered the two poles pinching the power in the middle. If she could incorporate that into her vessel wouldn't it help contain her water power? If she could give it direction to flow if it cycled around the outside and then through the center poles.

She began to mentally shift the dynamic of the vessel to include this concept before bringing a string of metal flakes over to it to start adding mana from her concept of magnetism. She closed her eyes as she directed the vessel to have an almost donut-like shape. One where the water would cycle itself around the outside and through the middle. She kept the light circling the outside reinforcing the outermost edge to reinforce it.

She took several long minutes to study her creation. It had evolved significantly from a simple bowl and she still wasn't done. There were flashes of yellow, red, and orange signifying weak points. She spent more time rebuilding those parts with willpower, intent, and mana. Once all the weak points had been smoothed away she was ready to move on. She checked her internal clock. There were eight minutes and fifty-four seconds left in the time they had to be in this room.

She bobbed her head back and forth. That should be enough time, she glanced at Moria who flashed her a smile but kept quiet. This was a huge difference from the constantly lecturing professor. Hiro was able to sink into her thoughts and problem-solve much more efficiently when she wasn't focused on pretending to politely listen.

Confident her two mana strands were stable without her direct input she moved on to the final core. The edge of this one was the blue of a summer's day, while the middle held a condensed stormcloud flashing lightning. She loved this core, because of the sky and clouds, but she was also wary of the lightning that had ripped apart her hands just a few days ago.

Hiro looked at her hands and arms here in her center. Her metaphysical body had faint lines of blue tracing where her scars were in real life. Like tattoos mimicking the damage she had done to her real body. A knot formed in her chest as she looked at them. She had blown out her mana channels, the last time she reached for her power from this core. She would need to be more careful. She flexed her fingers, well, there was no time like the present. She reached out and touched the core.

It cracked and rumbled to her as she listened to it. Light flashed under her hand like one of the plasma balls her friend had in his room. She felt the orb hum with electricity. There was also something soft about this orb. Like the cloak of clouds she had briefly had in the caverns. She reached for the soft reassuring power inside. A bank of clouds swirled from the core. It flashed red in her vision before darkening. The clouds began to rain, and the water from them joined the pool she floated in.

Frowning she tried again to reach for the more welcoming clouds, again they dispersed moments after she had pulled them forth. "What on earth?" She tried constructing a glass bottle like a terrarium to hold the clouds within. She had a bit more success before the fluff turned to water yet again.

When she had tried a fourth time to no avail Moria spoke up. "Embrace the whole of your core," she said simply.

Hiro sighed, she had been avoiding the electricity surging within. She glanced down at her hands again. Well, what did they do at the shop when working with things that had power running through it? Put on safety gear. A pair of thick gloves formed around her hands to insulate herself from the electricity.

This time she infused the clouds with the electricity. Using it to maintain its form as a thunderhead. She held it in her cupped hand. This time it held its form. Gingerly, she began to pull the bank of clouds over to her vessel. As it joined with the form she directed the electricity to infuse itself along the center of the donut arching out to meet with the light around the other equator. It made a mesh of power along the outside of the form. The clouds also ran along the center of the donut to insulate the source of electricity but also to help condense any water that tried to escape and send it back into the vessel. She could control where the sky was after all, and if she pointed the ground into the form, then it would rain into the vessel if it got captured by the clouds

Satisfied with how she added the new mana she stood back and rebuilt anything her accuracy pointed out to her as a weak point. She kept making adjustments, swimming this way and that until she couldn't find any more flaws. She reached out and touched the surface where light and electricity played along the magnetic lines reinforcing the willpower construct. There was only one more thing to add.

She glanced to where Moria had settled her mermaid form to watch her work. She had one more core to incorporate. If she could pull in the time concept at the same time as she began to fill her vessel. She probably wouldn't notice.

"I'm almost done!" Hiro called to her. "I need to go under for a bit."

Moria gave her a nod, "I think our time is almost up. Do what you need to be finished with our construct and then we will start the filling process before leaving."

Hiro gave her a thumbs up and dove down into the pool of water. She swam quickly to the hidden core below the pool where all of her concepts connected to TIme. The vision it had shown her of ways to fix her cores still lay within. The one with the four cores seemed clearer while the others were fuzzy. A new fourth vision was forming though it was indistinct. The way things had shifted confirmed to her that the paths she had seen had nearly been possibilities, apparently her actions had changed what could happen enough or another vision to form even if she couldn't see what it was yet.

Right now none of that mattered. She needed to get a feel for this core and add it to her construct. She reached out and lay her hand upon it. The flow of time stilled around her as she tapped into the concept of time. A faint ticking entered her head as she did so. She listened to it as it slowed and when it finally stopped she reached for her power and drew it forth. A fine golden watch chain extended from the orb into her hand. She formed a pocket watch out of her willpower and attached the chain to it. She held it in her hand as she swam away from the orb.

As she saw the ticking resume. Slowly at first. The further she swam from the core the more it sped up. It was still slower compared to real time but, she could feel the water around her slowly start to move again. As it did she started wrapping the water around the chain. Whatever power she wrapped around it started moving as fast as she did. Combined she made a jet stream from the Time core to her construct.

She glanced at a frozen Moria as she broke the surface of the pond. Good, hopefully, Hiro could get this incorporated before she started moving again. The entire construct in front of her was frozen in time. A streak of the lightning cage was frozen mid-flash. The spin of the donut paused as it drew in light from the core.

She led the jetstream to the bottom of the donut core primed to start filling it but held it there while she did the final step. She held out the pocketwatch she had connected her time power to and thrust her hand to the center of the vessel bringing the golden chain with it. As she did the time of the construct resumed. the lightning finished its flash and the spinning resumed. She held her arm shoulder deep in the vessel hand directly in the center of the donut. She expanded the watch to fill the center of the donut hole with its golden power. Once it was there she checked it to make sure everything was still blue. Nothing needed rearranging so she withdrew her hand running it down the cord of power that led back to the hidden core.

The ticking was getting faster. Slowly revealing back up to full speed. The area closest to her was speeding up in an expanding bubble. She ducked back down under the water and formed the water into a thinker stream around the cord before pushing the power fully into the center of the vessel. As she did time finished resuming.

She watched for a moment to make sure the water mana was getting incorporated into the system the way she intended. It was fed into the clouds that rained it into the form, and the rest of the concepts cycled and contained it in a slowly filling system that reinforced itself. From where she was beneath the construct she could even see the concept of time speeding up the whole process. Accelerating the mana allowing it to funnel in and enter stability faster than what she saw when Moria had made her pool.

Satisfied a huge grin stretched across her face. She turned to where Moria had been. She wanted to celebrate! She could tell this construct was not going to go anywhere. Everything was in equilibrium. Moria, however, was gone. Hiro was alone in her center.