azorath1234

Still recovering from grief so chapters will be slow, but I'm ready to start putting out chapters again. Probably a chapter every few days right now since I do have the basics of the rest of the arc planned. We'll see how the characters act though, I'm just as much at their mercy as they are at mine. Also, please cherish those close to you, you never know when they will leave you without any hint beforehand.

Arriving back at the base, Ventus turns to Avery to ask where the seminar is supposed to be, before getting dragged by Avery towards her dorm. “Ah, where are we going? I can bring us there faster.”

Avery stops before nodding briefly, eyes focused on Ventus’ ears “Your dorm Ventus, I promised Lamu you’d wear your kimono to the seminar.”

Upon the last words falling, Ventus’ ears shoot straight up, her tails starting to wave a touch eagerly, though her face rapidly turns silver. “Oh uhmm, okay. Will you help me with it Avery? I don’t think Lily is available to rush over, and she’s the one that helped me before.”

Avery tilts her head, uncertain of how she could help, “How would you like me to help?”

Vina chuckles and gently pinches Avery’s arm while she watches Ventus blush harder. “I think she wants help with makeup, or to have you watch her change. Kind of up in the air on that one.”

Ventus groans, clearly embarrassed. “I would have liked help with makeup, which is why I asked. However I then realized I don’t have any cosmetics so the request for help was rendered moot.”

Vina chuckles, before shaking her head. “You don’t need makeup Ventus, your face is beautiful already. Also, I don’t think you need to do the face lines you had for the interview, this is more informal.”

Avery nods at what Vina said, “That’s right. After all, female awoken all become beauties as they absorb more mana. Given the… amount you’ve glutted on, you will never need makeup to make your features pop.”

Ventus pouts, but takes the three of them to her room. Upon arriving she forms a barrier around herself and starts changing into her kimono. Gently opening the box to pull out the  while shifting her mana garb. Before changing it into a hadajuban, she checks to see how her pad is holding up. Her flow seems to have only slowed slightly, so she changes the pad, and then finishes shifting her mana outfit.

Avery calls out, “You okay in there Ventus? It’s weird not being able to see you, but being able to see behind the wall.”

Ventus smiles, a slight wave of her tails at the seemingly successful use of space to hide herself, before wondering if she could wrap it entirely around herself. Clamping down on that thought when her mana starts to agitate, she thinks about Lilith and Desi coming back. Her face flushes silver again, but her mana calms down due to Ventus’ will having shifted away from mana focused matters.

Despite not responding verbally, Ventus lets her tails show above the wall, and moves the tips up and down, indicating that she is. Then she starts putting on the nagajuban, before then slipping into the kimono, sighing as the soft silk of both pieces rubs across her smooth skin, while taking the time to ease her tails into the holes she had asked for.

Finally tightening the obi, she releases the wall, revealing an embarrassed Ventus to Avery and Vina. “Uhmm, I’m changed. How much time until the so-called seminar, Avery?”

Avery and Vina both intake sharply at seeing Ventus, being much closer than when she had been on stage. They both blush, though Vina shakes her head to clear it.

Avery on the other hand, walks the two steps it takes to reach Ventus, and gently cups Ventus’ cheek. “You’re beautiful Ventus. A field of stars in the night sky cannot compare to your black and silver eyes, while the most brilliant ruby cannot compare to your lips.”

Ventus flushes so hard the silver starts turning black, but a purr gently emerges from her chest, clearly happy with the slight contact and the beautiful words.

Vina nods at Avery’s statements, clearly agreeing, especially since the pattern of the kimono fits Ventus’ colors perfectly. “Uhm, Avery, time please. We need to know so we’ll know whether to walk or ask Ventus to take us.”

Avery blinks, her intense focus on Ventus’ appearance having been broken. “Oh yes, we have enough time to walk, but I’d rather Ventus take us if she doesn’t mind. After all, I don’t think she’s used to long distances in heels yet.”

Ventus giggles, before shaking her head. “If we have time we’ll walk. If I am just teleporting everywhere then I won’t get enough exercise. Also, I’m not wearing taller heels than normal, so I should be just fine.”

Avery sighs, before shaking her head and changing her approach. “Do you want to show off before we get to the gathering area? If so, then we can walk, if not, then please take us there directly. Let them all be awed at once, especially since they haven’t seen you up close while you’re in this.”

Ventus shrugs, before nodding. “I’ll take us there, but plenty have seen me close up when I went to the interview of sorts.”

Avery sighs, before shaking her head. “You had makeup on, and while yes the kitsune mask design looked good, it very much took away from your face.”

Ventus nods briefly before taking them all to the training grounds, where the seminar is taking place. “Well we’re here. Could you help me set up some targets made of ice, Avery? Try to make it dense if you can. I’ll surround it in solid space after to prevent melting until we get to active training.”

Avery sighs, before doing so, making the ice twice the size of a person, before focusing hard to make it denser, shrinking the targets down to the size of a normal person. She holds her head after, stumbling slightly. “Ah that drained almost everything, and it felt like metal poking my head.”

Ventus frowns at that and moves one of her tails to Avery’s hands. “Hold on please, so I can stop you if you fall.”

Avery squeezes the offered tail tightly, causing a gasp, and a blush from Ventus. “Uhm, Avery? Not so tightly please.”

Looking over at Ventus, Avery sees that Ventus’ legs are rubbing slightly, with that combined with the flushed appearance she chuckles. “Ah, so your tails are a weak point. Noted for the future.”

Ventus blushes more at the thought while Vina chuckles at the side, gently grabbing the base of Ventus’ tails. “You need to be careful, Ventus. You’re wide open while you’re embarrassed.”

Ventus lets out a loud “Eep” at the grab, before sliding to the ground, only barely managing to get a thin layer of solidified space in the way in time to prevent her kimono from getting dirty. She is panting slightly while looking at Avery, her tails flicking wildly while her ears are standing tall. “Please let go Vina. Before I do something in public that we’ll all regret.”

Vina notices the odd tone in Ventus’ voice and quickly releases Ventus’ tails. Upon releasing them, they shimmer slightly, and solidified space wraps around them entirely, another tail’s circle having a faint golden image of a wall, before the giant fox appears on that tail, while the wall appears on the one that already had an image. Power is flooding through Ventus, the mana in the air forming a cyclone visible even to the unawoken. 

Vina stumbles backwards while Avery blinks tiredly at the vortex that floods into Ventus’ tail, the mark glowing brighter and then stabilizing. Despite this, the flood continues, pulling mana from far distances and covering the training area with it. 

Despite Ventus’ ability to absorb mana seemingly without equal, the vortex is simply pushing mana into too large of an area for Ventus to absorb without actively drawing it in. While she could be doing that, she is trying to calm her mind, so that she doesn’t end up undressing in public to deal with the need that Avery and Vina caused due to touching her tails. 

The surrounding awoken start to cry out as they start to smoke due to taking in more than their body can handle in such a short span. Startled out of her mind emptying, Ventus looks around and curses under her breath. Avery and Vina seem to be fine, their absorption capacity clearly much higher for some reason. 

Breathing in for four seconds before pausing, Ventus grabs ahold of the mana vortex with her mind and spatial abilities, and funnels all the mana to herself, knowing that she should be able to endure it. Immediately, the surrounding awoken breathe a sigh of relief, their bodies slowly dealing with the extra mana.

Several of them feel a sort of cracking, and then various elements surge around them. They are all startled, since the element is different from their first. Despite this, the smoking of those that had the cracking sensation disappears immediately as their power seems to evolve. Two of them also change forms. One becomes a dwarf, stout though short. The other’s eyes turn crimson, while their canines sharpen and enlarge. A hissing is heard from this one, though no other signs of problems seem to happen.

Ventus, having absorbed most of the vortex while the other awoken grew stronger, sends the rest of the mana to Avery and Vina. At the end of her absorption, as she takes in the traces from sending the mana to the two, she also feels another cracking, deeper, further within than the first she felt in the caverns. Despite the crack, no new element emerges from her.

Vina sighs, the mana cycling through her easily, before a similar cracking is felt by her. The day seems to dim, except for where Vina is, as the sun’s light is concentrated upon her. Vines seem to emerge from under Vina’s skin, before said skin turns green, eagerly soaking up the sunlight.

Seeing this, Ventus chuckles before turning to Avery, wondering how she reacts to the extra mana.

Avery absorbs the excess much quicker than Vina did, in part refilling her reserves, though the rest of the reason is unknown. At the end of the mana surge for Avery, a similar crack to all the rest can be felt by her, and brilliant green light spirals from her hands. This light floats into the wind, reaching those that had been smoking from mana overload and gently touches them. Their pain vanishes, as the slight burns, both internal and external heal rapidly. 

Ventus smiles at seeing this, her evaluation of Avery’s battle power skyrocketing. She can control the battlefield, defend against attacks, and heal now. 

As people calm down from the commotion, and the rest of the awoken arrive, Vina finally snaps out of the state she was in before looking down at her skin. “Well, I guess I’m a nature elf or something? Can I turn back?”

The second she thinks about her skin turning back, the small vines that had emerged flow back into her, and her skin returns to the healthy peach it was initially. 

Ventus stares at Vina as Vina says, “Oh good, that’s something at least. I think I had rooted myself in the ground somehow in that state, I can move again.”

Finally looking up to notice Ventus staring at her, she tilts her head and asks, “What’s wrong Ventus? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Shaking her head, Ventus simply asks, “Try using your wind please. I want to confirm something.”

Shrugging at the odd request, Vina attempts to use the wind like she used to, only to get little confused gusts that guzzle her mana. Frowning at this, Vina tries again, using a less forceful method. While she gets better results, she still depletes her mana very quickly.

Ventus nods after seeing this, and before Vina can ask, she says, “Ah that’s what I thought I felt. You technically lost your wind element, because it merged into your new one. I will also say this, you’re probably the second strongest awoken in existence right now, at least in terms of potential.”

Vina blinks at Ventus’ words before asking, “Then what exactly is my new element as you called it, and what do you mean by second strongest in terms of potential?”

Ventus chuckles before simply saying, “Try asking nicely and feeding your mana to the request, rather than controlling. My sight shows that you trying this from my suggestion shows the best results. As for the rest, you’ll see.”

Blinking as she stares at Ventus’ eyes, Vina gasps. “Your eyes, they’re no longer random silver and black. They look like a starfield, and instead of just silver, the stars are every color.”

Tilting her head, Ventus looks surprised, but smiles softly. “You should try that ability before we get started, or else you’ll be mocked.”

Avery blinks aware, no longer lost in the focus of her new element. Looking over at Ventus she gasps upon seeing her eyes, before smiling widely. Although Vina had not observed them yet, Avery notices small markings appearing across Ventus’ face. Markings that consist of celestial bodies, appearing briefly and then fading.

As Avery observes this, Vina asks the wind to gust, bringing fresh clean air to them. After feeding this request with a very small amount of mana, the wind surges past the training field at dozens of miles per hour, before settling down. “This seems to be much better, yes. But, if it is just the wind, why did the way I control it change?”

Avery looks over before looking around. Laughing, she says, “Try and release your control over the sunlight Vina. It’s a bit dim away from you. Also, you could try and move the ground, or summon rain, or any number of nature related things. Just to see if that is what your power is.”

Vina nods, mentally asking the sun to shine brightly for everyone, and then asking the earth to lift her up. As a result, the sunlight for the few miles surrounding Vina no longer focuses on her, and then a stone pillar emerges under Vina, raising her up. Blinking in surprise, she bends over before patting the ground with her hand, smiling happily. “You can go back now, thank you little earth.”

The stone pillar sinks back into the ground, little rumbles around Vina as if the ground is purring in happiness. Smiling at this, Vina looks over to Ventus before smirking. “Hah, I think you misjudged my potential with this. It seems I’m probably the number one potential.”

Ventus sighs, shaking her head with a grin as her tails flick, small celestial bodies falling from them with each flick before vanishing. “You say that, but I came up with an idea.” Speaking softly, she amplifies the travel of her voice through the training area and slightly beyond. “All awoken, please come to the center of the training ground. I will be doing something so that you won’t be injured by these tests, so please know that your mana will likely stir when I do this, trying to resist. Don’t let it, or you’ll enter mana exhaustion.”

Groans and yells are heard around, but from Lamu’s orders, Ventus is in charge for the day. Speaking of Lamu, he jogs up to Ventus’ small group, grinning as electricity sparks slightly from him. “Thank you for whatever you did. I felt a crack and suddenly I could feel my own body’s electricity, as well as cause small bolts of lightning to fall from the sky.”

Ventus shrugs while Avery smiles, her eyes now focused on Ventus’ tails, and the small celestial bodies falling from them. “My goodness Ventus, stars, planets, nebula, novas, asteroids, comets, and so much more are falling from your tails, vanishing before becoming real.
Ventus blinks in surprise at this before smirking back at Vina. Once the awoken come closer, she starts emitting brilliant silver/black light, wrapping it around them before space around them trembles. Everyone appears in an empty space that is trembling, floating in place.. One large tremble, then two before a pop causes  what could only be described as the big bang to explode out from Ventus, not harming anyone, but rapidly creating space in another place. Stars quickly form in the distance as a solid sheet of space forms beneath them, letting them no longer float.