The morning drill horn wailed from the main barracks, faint and distant. For the second time since arriving at this academy, I get to ignore it. I stayed in my room, dressed in my training gear. Practical and comfortable.
I'd barely slept last night. Two Cores. Elara's words from yesterday looped in my head. Which is exactly why I forced myself to march back out there.
I reached the same spot as yesterday, but the clearing wasn't empty anymore. Training dummies stood around. At my sister's feet lay an assortment of swords—long, short, curved, straight, and probably cursed.
Wonderful, a buffet of death-dealing options. Pick your poison, Luna. And try not to trip on your own feet.
My internal grumbling was cut short by a single, curt word.
"Luna."
I looked up. Elara hadn't moved, but her green eyes pinned me before I could pretend not to notice. The sister was gone. Commander mode: engaged. Yep. Lecture. Or ass-kicking. Probably both, I suppose.
"You're late." Flat, not an accusation. Just a fact.
"Am not," I muttered, kicking a loose rock at the edge of the clearing. "I'm exactly on time."
"Monsters won't wait for you to be exactly on time," she countered without blinking, gesturing to the assortment of swords. "Your usual swords never really suited you. I know how you fight. You rely on speed and instinct to react. That won't work anymore."
"Ohhh, these are for me?"
I eyed the swords like a kid in a candy store. Oooh, long and sleek... curved and deadly... maybe that weird one that looks like it could bite back...
My heart skipped. This was exactly what I lived for: speed, strategy, and chaos in equal measure. Finally, a challenge I could actually sink my teeth into.
And then I saw it. A long, two-handed sword, more than half my height, its blade wide and solid. Well, that's... ambitious. My second thought, yes. This one. This is me. Half my height? Wide? This one is so cool.
I didn't hesitate. My elation spread across my face as I reached for it, fingers just about to close around the leather-wrapped hilt. Finally, a weapon that wouldn't just keep up with me—it'd make me feel unstoppable. Or at least dramatic as hell while posing.
Her voice cut through my thoughts. "Pick up that sword, and you won't be allowed to change it."
"You will train with it every day," Elara continued, elven eyes narrowing. "Learn its weight and balance, its every flaw. You'll use it until I'm satisfied you've mastered it. Do you understand?"
A challenge on top of a challenge. She was trying to scare me off. Obvious. A fighter like me, speedy and agile, had no business with a hulking sword like this. Slow. Heavy. Everything I wasn't.
And that was exactly why I wanted it.
I placed a hand on my hip. "Okay, big sister."
My fingers closed around the hilt. Heavier than I'd imagined. Perfect.
Elara let out a long, weary sigh, part frustration, part reluctant affection. She pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment, shaking her head.
"Of course, I should've known you'd pick the most difficult one," she muttered, more to herself than to me. She dropped her hand, exhaling through her nose as her attention flicked from the massive sword to me.
"Well, you're already too damn big for your own good. Maybe you'll grow into it... "
I caught a hint of the smile she thought she'd hidden.
She thinks she's clever. I just shrugged, hefting the greatsword with both hands. Awkward, unbalanced, nearly slipped right out of my grip.
"Okay, I'm ready," I said, ignoring my near-stumble. "What's first?"
Elara didn't return my smirk. Her expression snapped back to serious, all business. "First, we get a real baseline. No more faulty low-grade stones."
She reached down and pulled a small drawstring bag from her belt, tossing it onto the stone block beside her. It hit with a solid, weighty thud. From it, she produced a similar crystal to the one I'd seen before. Only this one was twice the size, and somehow even darker.
"Got a different one for you today. High-grade evaluation stone. Far more sensitive than the ones you've been breaking at the academy."
She held it out to me.
Just when I thought I had at least escaped the soul-sucking from yesterday.
"Pour your mana into it, for real this time," she commanded, voice leaving no room for argument. "Everything you have. I need to see what we're really working with."
I took the gem from her. Cold. I closed my eyes and reached into that familiar chaos inside me. The energy I'd always relied on, unwieldy.
I funneled it into the crystal, trying to keep it from bursting out like it usually does.
Nothing.
But then, the crystal simmered and glowed. Not the simple glow of the low-grade stones. No, this was different... weird.
Two faint points of light began to dance inside, like they were wrestling with each other.
Well, never seen that before.
I peeked at Elara. She was already watching, calm with a stern look, like she'd expected it.
"As I thought," she said, taking it back. "The crystal has a hard time reading your mana because of the two signatures interfering."
"So...?" I tilted my head.
"Well... your foundation... your control, it's messy." She said, deadpan.
"The good news is, you've managed to form two nebulas. Most cadets barely form theirs by the time they graduate at twenty-one... and here you are, sixteen, having to juggle two."
I unconsciously tilted my head to the other side. Elara must have noticed because she twitched before sighing.
"Let's start over, from the basics. You know this already, but let's review. Every living being is born with a little bit of mana inside them. We call this the first of ten stages: Void. The mana is dormant, like an untapped well. With training, or in your case, naturally, some reach the next stage, Spark. Spark is when you begin to feel the mana inside of you, gaining a small amount of control."
She stopped and took a breath. "From there, you learn to gather your mana into a swirling shapeless cloud, a Nebula. This is where you are now, albeit with two."
"But here is your issue, Luna," she continued, "You, lacking in control as you are, struggle with condensing that cloud, Gravity. To progress from your current stage, you'll need to be able to pull all of your mana inward into two stable points, in your case."
"That is the basis for the first major breakthrough, Core. A stable center of power you'll only reach with true control."
She gestured vaguely toward the city. "Most soldiers will live and die without ever forming a true core. This is the wall that separates the truly powerful. At this stage, internal and external arts begin to echo one another. Warriors can project their power outward, and mages can project inward."
"And despite all your talent, you are stuck on the wrong side of power."
I just stared at her, the words echoing in my head.
Stuck.
Me. Stuck. Shit, she's right, I suppose.
I know she's right. That feeling of a vast and uncontrollable power inside me, a power I've always drawn on but never mastered. That was my two nebulas—not my skill. Calling it messy would be an understatement.
It wasn't a gift. It was a curse. A powerful curse that had convinced me I am special when all I really am, is broken.
"So what you're saying is... I suck."
Elara didn't flinch. If anything, her jaw tightened.
"Right now? For what it's worth? Yes. You suck."
"Hey!" I pouted, "That's mean Elara, you're supposed to reassure me."
"I've reassured you for ten years," Elara said, her voice cold. "I told you your talent was enough. I kept you safe. I kept you hidden."
She stepped closer, her expression blazing like I'd never seen before
"I was wrong. Reassurance is a luxury we can't afford anymore. Gideon has already put a target on your back, and we can no longer deny the truth."
She poked my chest. "Truth is, until you control that power, you're a liability. Forget reassurance. Get to work."
"Now Luna, let's begin." Her words carried straight into the shimmer that began to rise off her body, a silvery haze wrapping her form.
"This is what you're aiming for, stage four Gravity. The first step in projecting your power. Every person you face in the Summit will be at this level."
Then, her eyes flared with a green light.
"This... "
The haze surrounding her collapsed inward in a violent snap before exploding outward again. Now, a brilliant shroud of emerald light, no longer a haze, but a solid barrier. The air hummed, and the ground beneath her cracked like glass. A crushing wave of pressure radiated from her, stealing the air from my lungs.
"This is the power of a formed Core—the power you're still on the wrong side of. Now let's see if you can cross that wall."