They settled into a circle, each taking a deep breath and closing their eyes. Aira led them through the initial stages of their routine, guiding Lila and Alliot as they reached out with their senses to tap into the energy surrounding them. The power of the mountain flowed through the roots and into their bodies, filling them with a sensation that was both exhilarating and terrifying.

  For Aira and Lila, the energy was like a roaring river, rushing through them with unstoppable force. It was pure, unbridled power, ancient and elemental, and threatened to sweep them away if they weren't careful. But for Alliot, who was not attuned to this flavor of magic, each passing moment brought visible distress. His breathing became shallow and rapid, his fingers dug into his thighs, and his eyelids fluttered, revealing eyes that rolled back momentarily before snapping forward again.

  "Alliot?" Aira said, sensing his struggle through their bond. "Maybe you should…"

  "I can manage," he insisted, but his voice sounded distant, hollow. A thin trickle of blood appeared at his nostril, and his shoulders began to quiver. The foreign energy was rejecting him, pushing against his air affinity like oil against water. Suddenly, his back arched as if struck by lightning, his mouth opening in a silent scream before he crumpled sideways, his body going limp as consciousness fled.

  "Alliot!" Lila gasped, her eyes snapping open. "Bones and bark!" She scrambled forward to help him, but the sudden movement shattered her concentration. The mountain's energy, no longer channeled through her meditation, crashed through her unfiltered—a tidal wave of raw power that made her vision swim with colors she had no names for.

  She wavered, her steps unsure, the world tilting beneath her. Strange whispers filled her mind, countless voices speaking simultaneously in a manner that she couldn't understand anything. If not for Aira's quick reaction, grabbing her arm and steadying her, she'd have collapsed beside Alliot.

  "What's... happening to me?" she growled, the sound startlingly loud in her own ears. "I can hear... everything... everyone... like catching a hundred howls at once!"

  "What's wrong with you all!" exclaimed Aira. "Lila, breathe! Just follow the standard routine. It will ground you!" And then she felt a push from Lila. Not physical, but through their connection. A whisper of voices came through that link before phasing out.

  "Ah…" muttered Lila. "You again, with you puns."

  The ex-ranger felt weak resting in Aira's hands, the color left her face as she began growling almost inaudibly.

  "Stay calm," Aira instructed, her voice steady despite the intense pressure of the energy around them. "Focus on your breath, on your center. Don't let the energy consume you. I'll try to boost you just a bit. Not too much, we don't know what it would do in this… environment…"

  Lila nodded, her breathing slowing as she followed Aira's guidance. "What's… with Alliot?" she gasped.

  Aira glanced at the enlightened defender. He was lying there, a few steps away. His hair stood on ends, and minute pulses of energy jumped from one strand to another.

  "I don't know," said Aira. "I'll check him in a moment, when I know that you are fine."

  The energy that had been threatening to overpower her began to recede, retreating to a more manageable level. Then, she felt her friend supporting her, engaging with the System in a way she never experienced before. That connection they'd built over the past few days suddenly became wider. Not a narrow forest path, but a highway of the ancient humans. Lila stepped on that arcane path and sensed Aira reaching toward her from the other side with the power of the Energy Manipulation. Now, Lila could grasp a fraction of this power to stabilize herself a bit more. With every new breath, with every blinking of her eyes.

  "I feel better," said Lila. "Go, check on him."

  ***

  But before Aira stood up, she felt the shifting of the elemental currents around her intensify. It wasn't singularly Lila's pull, that new sensation she had never experienced before. It was so much more. The whole cave system reacted to their interaction. The Rune embedded in her body began to pulsate, its rhythm syncing with the energy of the mountain. The walls of the cavern seemed to constrict, making it harder to breathe. But the Rune continued pulling Aira somewhere. Directing her. Giving her the guidance she'd been seeking mere moments ago.

  As soon as Aira's Rune began to pulsate, the mountain seemed to answer. The living stone around them vibrated at the exact frequency of her Rune—a perfect harmony that made the air itself shimmer with resonance. For one breathtaking moment, Aira couldn't tell where her body ended and the mountain began. Their energies intertwined, ancient and new powers recognizing each other across unfathomable distances of time and space.

  Then, like dawn breaking through the darkness, a familiar blue glow materialized before her eyes. Not initiated by her wristband. Not muttered by any other gadget. Just... there, suspended in her vision, the way it had always appeared in her world.

  --- System Update ---

  Energy Manipulation skill updated

  New ritual available: Transmute the power of the elemental Source to create a Shard

  "By all that exists..." Aira whispered, her voice catching as she read the update, each word burning itself into her mind with implications that made her heart race.

  "Aira... what is it?" Lila's voice broke through her thoughts, concern lacing her tone.

  Aira looked at her, her eyes bright with a mixture of excitement and caution. "The Rune... The System… I don't know which of them, but they've given me something new. A ritual—one that can create something called a 'Shard' with the energy of an enlightened city's elemental Source."

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Alright, first check Alliot," said Lila. "Then we'll figure out what's happening. Can't reach him through enlightened ways or party chat—he's lost in the lichen completely!"

  ***

  By the moment Aira and Lila brought Alliot's body to the same ledge where they met Khanorrh a few hours earlier, there was a group of enlightened waiting there. Alliot was alive, but still unconscious, and the newcomers helped bring him down to Ziemrot.

  "So, Khanorrh wasn't bluffing when he told us they'd be watching," said Aira. "It's a shame they weren't able to get closer to the place where we had this accident…"

  "But what exactly did they sense?" asked Lila.

  An answer came in the form of rapid footsteps against stone. A shaman approached them, her movements precise and deliberate, cutting through the air like a blade. Unlike Khanorrh's weathered presence, she radiated a sharp, almost combative energy. Her eyes, glowing with Earth's power, assessed them with unabashed scrutiny.

  "Zavarrh," she announced without preamble, addressing Lila and giving her name like a challenge. "I speak with Khanorrh's authority." She planted herself directly in Lila's path, forcing the group to halt.

  "You've shaken the bedrock itself today," she declared, her voice unyielding. "The mountain doesn't simply bend to outsiders' whims, yet you've managed to create a disturbance we haven't felt in centuries." Her eyes narrowed, locked on Lila with piercing intensity. "A spike of Earth element, yes, but threaded with something foreign—something that doesn't belong. Explain yourselves. How did you force the Source to respond like that?"

  "We just… meditated…" said Lila. "I should ask Aira what exactly had happened there. But it seems that even she doesn't really know."

  "Tell her we were meditating and it probably focused the energy," said Aira. "Not only the energy of the Source, but what we, including Alliot, had in us. It was probably his presence that triggered such a spectacular reaction."

  "Wait, you heard Zavarrh's question?" asked Lila. "How is it even possible? She's not a member of our party!"

  "Huh? I heard her ask it," said Aira. "Did you do something for me to hear it?"

  "I can't say I did anything differently this time," said Lila.

  "Well?" Zavarrh demanded, tapping her foot against the stone path. "What explanation does the aberrant offer?" When Lila transferred Aira's words, the shaman's expression shifted from skepticism to reluctant interest. She ran her fingers through her hair, considering, and prepared to leave.

  "If you're going to Khanorrh," said Lila before Zavarrh stepped away, "ask if he's happy with the results of his little experiment. By the twisted branches, we've got a wind-snapped companion here!" She gestured to Alliot. "We'd appreciate any assistance with his condition—unless watching us flounder like loaded deer is part of the plan."

  As soon as she left, Lila grasped Aira's hand. "What was that? What's happening? First you get this new ritual. And now that?"

  "I... I don't know," said Aira, her voice hushed as they made their way down the mountain path, the unconscious Alliot carried between them. "But something fundamental has shifted. The mountain awakened something in me. Or perhaps in us."

  The city sprawled below them, its ancient structures cradled by living growth, unaware of the transformation occurring in their midst. Shadows lengthened across the valley as the sun dipped toward the horizon, casting everything in amber light that made the moment feel suspended between worlds.

  "There's only one place we can explore this properly," Aira continued, glancing back at the mountain looming behind them. "We need to return to the cave system. But we must be careful. When we were at the Heart of the Forest, there were... consequences. This is far more potent."

  She gripped Lila's arm, stopping them both. "And there's something else." Her eyes searched Lila's, urgent and bright. "That announcement from the System? It came on its own. I didn't access it through any gadget. It just... appeared. The way it always did in my world. Direct. Immediate." Her voice dropped to a whisper.

  Lila's eyes widened, her gaze darting around as if to check that no one could listen to their party chat dialogues. "So, what are you saying? Your old powers are returning to you?"

  "I don't know!" exclaimed Aira. "But some aspects do seem to return. At least where I'm close to a Source."

  Lila blinked, clearly stunned by the revelation. "Wait, hold your branches," Lila asked, brows furrowed. "You mean you could tap into this mountain's power and turn it into a... Shard? What in the Elder's br—" she caught herself, "—what in the frost's bite does that even mean? Will the Source survive? Will it be like sapping a tree dry, or just catching a leaf without harming the branch? And what's this Shard supposed to do anyway?"

  "You ask questions I don't have any answers to," Aira replied, her voice steady but serious. "But we have to be careful. Whatever it is, this kind of power is not something to be taken lightly."

  ***

  Alliot woke up the next morning still feeling weak. It was like all energy was sucked out of him, and somehow, it was tough to recharge. After he explained his state to Aira, she started slowly transferring the energy she had accumulated to him. Constantly checking whether it was making him feel better or worse. And trying to share more energy flavored with the Air element instead of the Earth element, which was so much more prevalent in Ziemrot.

  "What was you experience?" she asked. "Do you have any clues?"

  "I have never felt anything like that," Alliot answered. "But… I have never been so close to a foreign source of power. And that's not all. During our meditation, I tried to attune myself to it and tap into it. I guess it was just a bit too much, too fast."

  "Will you go with us again?" asked Lila. "We planned to continue the exploration of the caves."

  "I'll… Yes. I plan to do that," Alliot said. "I'll take it slower. I wouldn't try to do too much all at the same time. But I will explore with you. I don't want to leave you alone."

  "Alright, just stay safe," said Aira. "This is probably a great opportunity for your boss to gather some data."

  "You are correct," said Alliot. "I’m learning a lot. What about you? Did you have any progress? Any changes?"

  "Oh, she had some changes alright," said Lila. "By the way, you didn't have to focus on your gadget. But does it work without gadgets?"

  "Well, there's only one way to test that," Aira said, her eyes glittering with a mixture of hope and apprehension. She reached deep within herself, seeking that familiar connection—the thread that had always been there in her world, the direct line to the System that defined her very existence as a wielder of the arcane.

  "Here," she said, unclasping her wristband with trembling fingers. "Hold these." She passed both the wristband and radio to Lila, leaving herself wholly disconnected from any technology that might act as a conduit.

  Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and focused. No gesture. No spoken command. Just pure will, directed toward the System that had once been as natural to her as breathing.

  A heartbeat passed. Then another.

  Lila gasped first. Alliot's eyes widened a moment later. Even Al, perched on Lila's shoulder, froze mid-whisker twitch.

  ========== PARTY DISBANDED ==========

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