Dante knelt beside Erica. Her breathing was shallow but steady. He remembered her kindness on that rainy day, a strange warmth that didn't fit with his cold plans for survival. He had brought this team together for his own reasons, but that didn't make them just pawns. A dead teammate was a useless one.
"Erica, don't push yourself anymore," he said, his voice softer than he meant it to be.
Her eyes opened and locked onto his. They weren't hazy or confused. They burned with a surprising, steady fire. "I have to," she whispered, the words filled with a strength he had never seen in the shy girl from class.
He was stunned. This was not the quiet girl who hid in the back of the room. This was someone new, changed by desperation. Maybe she really wanted to go home, or maybe she, like him, had found a reason to fight in this brutal new world. He offered her his hand. She took it, her grip surprisingly firm, and he helped her to her feet.
"Fine," he said. "Then let's try a different way. I'll help you."
He looked around at the others. They were all trying to command their power from the outside, like shouting at a stubborn animal. In all the stories he had ever read, that was the first mistake. The power wasn't a tool you picked up; it was a part of you that you had to wake up. They had tried meditation and physical training. They had missed the most important step.
"Erica," he began, turning his full attention to her. "Forget everything you just did. Close your eyes."
She did as he said without question.
"Listen to my voice," he said, his tone low and calm. "Think of your body not as flesh and bone, but as a container. Somewhere inside you, there is a pool of energy, of mana. I want you to find it. Picture it in your heart, a warm, liquid light. Don't try to force it. Just see it. Feel it flowing from your heart through your whole body, like blood in your veins."
Dante watched her face. Her brow, which had been tight with effort, began to relax. Her breathing deepened, becoming slow and even.
"You can see it now, can't you?" he said, keeping his voice steady. "You can feel it. It's a part of you. Now, gently guide it. Don't command it, just guide it. Move that warmth from your heart, down your arms, and into your palms."
A few seconds of tense silence passed, broken only by the sound of the stream. Then, a soft light began to glow from her hands. It wasn't fire. It was a swirling cloud of faint, orange-gold energy, beautiful and wild.
The other team members stopped what they were doing, their eyes wide with a mix of shock and jealousy.
"Perfect," he breathed, a real smile touching his lips for the first time since they arrived here. "It's working. That is your mana. That is your power."
Erica opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of the glowing energy in her hands.
"Now for the final step," Dante said, his voice becoming sharp again. "Focus. Change the shape of that mana. Don't think about heat or destruction. Just imagine a flame. Picture a simple candle flame in your hands. Give the energy that shape."
She nodded, her eyes fixed on the light. The swirling energy began to twist and come together. A tiny spark flickered, then another. A small, stable flame, no bigger than her thumb, suddenly appeared in her palm. It was steady, controlled, and very real.
A wave of pure joy washed over her face. "I... I did it," she whispered.
But her focus broke in that moment of victory. The thin link between her mind and her power snapped. The small, controlled flame exploded. It roared into a huge, twisting pillar of fire, pulling the air from around them and lighting up the grove with a terrifying, violent light. It was completely out of her control.
"Release it!" Dante yelled, grabbing her arm. "Let go of the mana!"
"I can't!" she cried, her face a mask of fear as the heat burned her skin. The fireball pulsed, growing larger and threatening to set the whole forest on fire. The rest of the team scrambled backward, shielding their faces.
With a final, desperate scream, Erica threw her hands forward. A massive ball of fire shot from her palms, tearing through the air and slamming into the rock wall across the stream. The impact was deafening.
Rock shattered and melted, sending steam and bits of stone hissing into the night. The light from the blast was as bright as the sun at noon.
When it faded, Erica was on her knees, panting, her hands trembling. Her right hand was raw and red, burned by the uncontrolled release of power. Dante rushed to her side.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his own heart pounding in his chest.
She looked up at him, not with fear or pain, but with the brightest, happiest smile he had ever seen. Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the sweat and dirt.
"Okay?" she laughed, a sound of pure excitement. "I've never been this okay in my entire life! I did it, Dante! I really did it!"
Her happiness spread through the group. A cheer went up from the rest of the team. The fear was replaced by a surge of hope. It was possible. The path was real.
For the next several hours, the grove was their classroom. Using the method Dante had shown, and with Erica now adding her own advice, they helped the others.
"Don't think of it as cold," Erica explained to Masha, who was struggling. "Think of it as stillness. Find the part of your energy that is calm and quiet." Minutes later, a beautiful, complex frost pattern spread from Masha's fingertips onto a leaf.
Dante worked with Jin, telling him to move his mana not into his hands, but into his sword. "The blade is just another part of your arm. Let the energy flow into the steel." His sword soon hummed with a faint, sharp light, feeling weightless in his hands.
One by one, they found their spark. Edgar successfully Appraised many flowers at once, their stats and details flooding his mind. Neil placed a hand on an old-looking stone and felt its history. Juno saw a flicker of her determined spirit on his paper.
By the time the twin moons began to sink towards the horizon, the team was changed. The air was filled with the soft glow of their controlled powers, proof of their success. They weren't just a group of lost students anymore. They were armed. They were ready.