"I'm not even going to hide the fact that I'm too fucking tired to sense anything, right now," he continued, breathing heavily. "It was your idea to run through the night, but I don't sense anything either," Ardrin said, spitting a wad of spit on the ground as he gasped for air.
"It's not that we're exhausted, since our mana is already replenishing our energy; it's that we can't sense anything," Taegin realized, looking up at the looming cave's mouth that gently hummed with a nearly invisible sheen of multi-colored mana.
It had the appearance of a broken lantern's oil spilling out onto the ground on a rainy day, but it constantly shifted and swirled depending on where one was observing it from. "What? That's impossible," Ardrin said, but after enhancing his vision a little more, he noticed what his brother had.
"It's not impossible as much as it is a necessity," Bernar added, getting a glance from the other two. "What? You two were in contact with Erumon loooong before I ever was, and I can tell you from first-hand experience: whatever mana's behind this barrier is going to crush us," he said with a heavy shrug.
"Now that I think about it, he's right," Taegin said, putting a finger to his chin. "The question is: how the hells do we get in? Did Erumon give either of you a hint?" he asked the others, still gazing up at the top of the cave. Ardrin's eyes squinted as he took a step forward, placing his hand on the barrier itself.
He closed his eyes and felt for the mana's response as he tried to push into it. The barrier rippled, but it wasn't enough to break it or let him through by any means.
"Damn it," he hissed, pulling his hand away as if he'd just touched a piece of hot coal. "I'm getting the feeling Bernar might be right about this dragon's mana," he said, showing the palm of his hand to the others.
"Let me try," Taegin said, placing his hand on the barrier the same way Ardrin had. The barrier rippled a little more, even going so far as to reach the outer edges of it, but like with Ardrin, Taegin was forced to pull his hand away.
"That was a bit more than Ardrin's," Bernar noted idly. "It's not a competition, nephew, but I suppose Ethereal mana might be more closely related to whatever this barrier is made of," Ardrin scowled, pouring mana into his still-smouldering hand. Bernar thought back as far as he could on his lessons, but no spell or barrier he could think of gave him any sort of answer.
Thoma, how would you get through this? Bernar thought, keeping it to himself.
"Wait a minute. Give me a hand, will you?" he asked after a few minutes of silence, moving up to the barrier and raising his hand. "We've already tried that," Ardrin groaned. "Just trust me, will you? I have an idea," Bernar sighed and shook his head, prompting the other two to share a glance and shrug before placing their hands at regular intervals beside his.
"We're going to have to push through it, since we don't know how it was put up to begin with," he said, getting raised eyebrows from the others. "Are you insane? This barrier's going to rip us apart, crush us into dust, and burn our remains before we even realize what's happened," Ardrin scoffed, removing his hand and using his head to gesture to their obstacle.
"I know, but Erumon wouldn't have sent just us three if he didn't think we could manage it. He must have known it was here, but that's also why he sent the three most powerful of us," Bernar began, getting an almost prideful look from Taegin.
"He's right, brother. Anwill couldn't be here since he's training the others, and we're running out of time," Taegin added, but Ardrin was hesitant to follow. "Fine. On your head be it," he sighed heavily.
"Taegin, you push into the barrier along with me, but don't use your Ethereal mana," Bernar said, causing Taegin to raise an eyebrow. "How did you…?" he trailed off, but Bernar chuckled and shook his head.
"Do you know how many times I've heard Thoma talk about the night you came to get him? He always said your eyes glowed like twin suns, but I only put it together when Erumon produced the pearls yesterday. You were the one he was talking about regarding that Shifting mana, or whatever he called it," Bernar said, gauging Taegin's reaction and knowing he was right.
Ardrin, however, was taken aback.
"It seems you still hold secrets, even after all this time. A shame you didn't use it to fight me in Coltend," he said, shaking his head. "No one knew of the existence of other types of mana at the time. Why would I shatter their worldviews at what I considered to be such a pivotal moment?" Taegin shrugged.
"You know how Thoma is, and I'm sure he wouldn't have survived that fight with Irun if he were focused on me using that," Taegin sighed and shook his head. "I hate to admit it, but he's right. He even kept it from me, and I've been his right-hand man for years now," Bernar said with a hint of disappointment in his tone.
"I know why you couldn't use it, but right now we have to if we're going to get through this barrier. I'll ripple it; Ardrin, you provide the barrier to protect us if the mana really does crush us; Taegin, you find a way to take advantage of the ripples I create. Ready?" Bernar asked, turning his attention to the barrier as his mana began to surge.
"I admire his pragmatism, at least, but there's no guarantee I'll be able to protect us from the mana," Ardrin said with a single, internal chuckle. "We're ready whenever you are, brother," he continued with a single nod, putting his hand near the barrier once more.
How long has it been since then? Taegin wondered idly before his eyes began to glow like the twin suns on that fateful night.
As he changed his drawing of mana from the Ethereal to the Shifting realm, he created a small orb of sunset-colored mana in the palm of his hand, gently placing it on the barrier. A subtle ripple emanated from the barrier that continued to grow in strength as he increased his output of mana.
"It's working! Keep going," Bernar laughed, immediately increasing his output and digging his feet into the earth to push with all his might against the barrier. As Taegin's mana began to permeate the barrier, Ardrin's shield began to strain and bend against the weight of its mana.
"Not enough, we need more," Ardrin grunted, pushing even more mana into his spell. Taegin wordlessly followed his commands, his irises glowing even more brightly this time as his mana began to counter the mana flowing within the barrier.
The three of them began to push with all their might, feeling the barrier starting to give way like a needle trying to poke through a thick leather hide. Slowly but surely, they realized the small hole they'd made in it began to grow. "Just… a little… more," Bernar strained, his teeth bared and eyes widened.
Taegin let out a grunt of exertion that grew into a full-blown shout within moments. More of the shifting mana countered the barrier's flow, and with a final push, the three of them were through.
They nearly collapsed on the other side, hardly able to stand under the weight of the density of mana within the cave. Bernar chuckled and looked behind him incredulously, but realized that the barrier had already healed from their small hole.
"What… the fuck? How can… anything have… this much mana?" he barely managed through gritted teeth, forcing more mana into his muscles just to be able to stand. Taegin and Ardrin were both at a loss for an answer, doing their best to focus their attention on standing as well.
"I think, urgh… I think Erumon might have oooverestimated our… abilities a little," Ardrin said with a dry chuckle as he, too, was struggling to stand. "You're… not wrong," Bernar replied with a wry grin. "I think this must be similar to what Thoma trained in with Kalia," Taegin said, hardly struggling for words, prompting the others to look at his glowing form with utter confusion.
"Oh, my apologies," he said, raising a barrier of his own that immediately allowed their efforts of pushing against the stone to cause them to stumble when the pressure was released. As the other two regained their composure, they couldn't help but look directly above them, seeing only minor striations racing across the orange, translucent barrier.
"Nice trick. Again, you should have used that to save your shoulder back then," Ardrin scoffed in disbelief, his mouth slightly agape as he looked up. "Perhaps I should have, but finally seeing the two of you struggle beneath the mana's weight was rather satisfying, short-lived as it was," Taegin offered a dry chuckle.
"Shifting mana does exactly what its name suggests: it shifts things according to the will of the user, be they material or mana-based. Dragons don't bother fighting each other with spells, since they all have this ability innately," he said, reciting a shorter explanation than what he'd received from Erumon.
"Tha-... yeah, no. That makes sense," Bernar concluded with a few quick nods.