"Alpha Snairs are the leaders of a pack- or more rather, equal to several packs themselves. Their exoskeleton is comparable to the hardest material known to mankind- Star's Fall.
Their legs were, however, further evolved, that set it apart from the usual Snairs.
Records show that they can reach and easily go past the speed of sound."
Yeah, yeah, so can I.
"These records aren't from the people who fought them off. But the lucky ones who survived its wrath.
Tread with caution, as one could potentially destroy an entire city."
Your point? Why can't I remember what the professor said?
It's not like I wasn't sleeping throughout the lectures.
"If you face one of these monstrosities, please run away. The Complex Realm doesn't care about the family waiting back at home."
Maybe, but does that really apply to me?
[𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮̈𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞]
5 seconds
My reserves were around 20%, so I had to finish this as fast as possible, minding the phase difference.
This one felt different. It was much larger and had a menacing red tint to the uncountable layers of scales. It wasn't feral but calculating, actually sizing me up as it slowly walked towards me. What came out of its mandibles was a low drone, occasionally filled with rapid clicks that gave me goosebumps.
It was taunting me, egging me on to make the first move. Sadly, it was working. I flinched several times, catching myself lunging at him, but I knew I had to wait.
The worn out Snair arm I used as a chimeral weapon stopped the Alpha at its tracks.
"Yeah. I did that." I scoffed.
The clicks got louder and a piece of meat went flying.
It was part of my ear.
The pain wasn't what led my next actions. It was the disgust of the fact that it thought it could kill me. As of that moment, everything I did in the next 10 seconds, was done so with my stitches torn.
0.1 Seconds with Steilhang
The Alpha Snair's flesh was never studied on. Cause and Effect took my side today. It seemed that the skeletal flesh itself was slightly fragile, causing the Alpha Snair's knees to turn upside down. It fell down, shrugging off any fatal attacks with its annoying scales. I kneeled down and met it head level. I could feel the animosity seeping through its bug eyes, and it ticked me off even more.
It still wants more..
Fine..
0.01 Seconds.
It took advantage of the lag and curled its claws into both my feet. I howled in pain, as it slowly began to make more than just clicks- but a bloodcurdling scream. I felt a huge pang of vertigo, as I felt my legs buckling but recovering. I couldn't let it do me in like this. The sand was now a horrible mess, mixed with red and green, and smelled of death. I couldn't deactivate Steilhang. It would be fast enough to pull my heart out in an instant.
I could feel the life slowly draining out of me. My body slowly seized up and I felt my reserves reach the small puddle at the bottom of the barrel.
No...
ThiS Can'T bE tHe 3Nd.
No...
I feel myself about to faint.
I CaNt Die NOw.
NOT YET.
A̅ͭ͒҉̞̬́͘n̦̻̏̾̑ͧ͒͢ͅͅͱn̬̥̽̂̇͆̌̀ỉ̠̦̘͆͆ͫ́ͤͤ̏ͅẖ̷̅ͤͤ͢ͅl̨̨̨̺̗̙̻̉ͧ̚͢a̵̘̭̮̲̬ͥͫ̊́͢ͅt̅̃҉̵̴̭̭̫̝̳̖̕e̶̻̥̮̥ͧ̔͐̀͌̉͐̀ͅ
0.1 Milliseconds.
The claws that stabbed all the way through my feet disintegrated; the dust hovering over the corpse. I almost didn't catch the Alpha's body flatten, causing green blood to shoot everywhere in insanely high speeds. That brief moment of flesh fusing with the alien sand let out a sound that reverberated throughout my entire body and shot huge amounts of relief to my half-awake mind.
.
Mr. Crey.
Please let this be over.
I fell to my knees, numbed by the pain all over, and something else. It could only be described as a flesh tearing itch in my brain. Overwhelmed by everything around me, I slipped into unconsciousness.
>>
Good job, Atlas.
You've just taken the next step to being the greatest.
>>
December's PoV
"Expressions are the way we attack- the simplest form of Domain Manipulation. What we do is we try to imagine an empty space in front of us. To help us, we usually hold out our hands to give us physical boundaries as to where we can imagine that space."
"Got that, Decey?" She placed her hands on her hips, with an annoyed look.
"Uh… Yeah-"
It was a week after the funeral. Heet thought that if we could train, it'd take our minds off of that day. Have I moved on? I couldn't tell you. I honestly didn't know what was going on anymore. I catch myself staring into some random space for hours, not thinking about anything. I think it was better than mourning, so I'd take it. Of course, Aria's cooking is absolutely fantastic, but I asked her not to make omelets.
I feel like this hasty web of reality I have would collapse. It was too much- the Definition, facing that entity, and the truth about Functions, and the pain.
Before getting ready, I wanted to take a look in the mirror- it had been in my head, several weeks since I saw myself. My black hair grew a lot, to the point where I had to tie it back into a small knot. The daily muscle regiment she had been putting me on seemed to do something. I felt stronger, and looked not-unlike a pushover. Of course, my nose bone slightly bended towards the left.
There was something that gnawed at the back of my head, however.
My eyes were white-
I snapped back to the sharp pain I felt on my left foot. It was Heet, stamping in one fell swoop.
"Are you listening?" She nagged.
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine.." Heet stared into my eyes, reading them and felt guilty.
We wake up at 9 and started jogging up the hill. There wasn't any set time for this activity, because the hilltop was the training ground regardless. I thought that if we got used to being here, we would forget whatever happened here. Heet made me do several push ups, pull ups, whatever helped my scrawny arms become un-scrawny.
This was all in the hopes of attending the second semester of Zahl Academy. Heet hadn't had the interest of joining Zahl apparently, and for good reason. If she caught one whiff of someone power abusing, especially if they're a noble, she wouldn't spare them. We both wanted to know how Atlas was. We hadn't gotten any letter from him or any sign that he was taking this well.
Why would he? Am I an idiot..?
"You wanna give it a go?" Heet asked me.
I nodded.
I was advised to place my hands in front of me, palms facing up, arms stretched at a 90 degree angle. It was like delivering a sermon.
Now, to imagine any shape. This shape will manifest itself into an expression, and hence Domain Manipulation.
If only it were that easy.
It wasn't even brain fog that was the problem; The image wasn't sustaining in my head. I tried to imagine a triangle- the simplest polygon, and when I closed my eyes, the image shattered almost immediately.
Alright, new approach: I imagine the 'drawing' of the shape.
.
.
"Ugh. This isn't working." I sighed, dropping to the ground ,arms spread wide. The cool afternoon breeze sure hit the right places. Heet bent over me, concerned.
"Hey, it's alright. This took me days to learn. My brother somewhat taught me a while back." She offered me her hand.
"Yeah? And how long would it usually take in average?" I said, as she lifted me up.
"Uh, I don't know, Months?" She spoke with glee.
"You're such a loser, you know that?" I complained.
"Not my fault I'm awesome."
I rolled my eyes and silently was impressed. I always knew Heet was somewhat of a genius, although different from me. She was able to learn skills in an unprecedented way. She was also home schooled like me. It was her mother who usually taught her stuff. Since she was busy most of the time, Heet had to figure things on the go. She did have a brother, but rarely mentions it.
What can I say? Sibling rivalry at its finest.
Her father died when she was around 11. She was broken back then: I felt it. I didn't know how to comfort her or anything, so I went on rants daily, about all the cool stuff I learnt through books, and she'd sit there and listen.
"Heet. It's gonna be alright."
"I miss Daddy..."
"You wanna play tag? Loser gets to buy the other snacks."
"You're going to lose though."
"I know."
I chuckled.
"What's the matter?", Heet asked.
"How about this? If I manage to do Domain Manipulation under a week, you buy us something to eat." I proclaimed.
Heet scoffed, her eyes trying to feign ignorance, but couldn't help it. She had a coy smile that gave me goosebumps. I didn't back down though.
"So, if you manage to do something that's never been done before, we go on a date? And I'm paying?"
"Something like that."
"I would've gone on a date with you regardless. I mean if you want to make it impossible, be my guest." She regretted saying those words and turned red.
We both stood around without saying a word for a while.
"Are you just saying that? Or do you really think it's impossible?"
"Listen. I am not calling you gifted-you are. But there's a learning curve to everything. Once you're Defined, you'll have the proper outlet to use your Domain. Before that, you can't really 'use' it but rather had to 'suppress' it. You could think of having a Function as the reigns to a racehorse. Now, your body has to get used to how the Function interprets the Domain.
You've never managed to use Domain in both manners, so yeah.
Impossible."
Heet felt bad. She wanted to let me down lightly, but it just came off as a rant that bashed me.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to come off like that." She said, reaching for my hand.
"I don't know, Heet. This feels like a Special Week to me." I responded, grabbing her hand.
"Tell you what. Do it, and you'll get something special, apart from the date."
"Might as well tell me beforehand."
"Decey. You really think you can do this?
No offense to you, but you used to be a Normal.
I honestly want to know where this confidence is coming from." She laughed.
"Intuition."
She had a baffled look. As she was about to leave, she patted me on my back, wishing me good luck.
As she left, I was alone with my own thoughts.
I slapped myself, asking myself why the hell I said that.
And she said she'd go on a date regardless? She might as well just tell me she likes me. I mean they mean the same goddamn thing, but before I was just guessing. This is definitive proof.
I went back to to the problem at hand: How am I meant to figure this out?
From the start, I've been doing whatever Heet told me she did. It's not that I couldn't understand her: she knew how 'using' Domain felt.
There was naturalism she had whenever mentioning Domain. For her, it was like muscle memory.
First thing's first, I needed to understand how to sustain this image.
3 hours later.
I collapsed. Turned out that using all of your brain power to imagine random geometric shapes took all of the juice inside you.
This clearly wasn't working. I had to go back to the drawing board- square one.
What if the problem was with my approach to this shapes shit?
Why was I even doing it?
To give the Domain a proper means to erupt from.
What did that mean?
It meant that this imagination of shapes gives the Domain a proper structure to be in.
Like a mold.
If I pour the Domain inside this mold, it'll give it the support it needs to be used in any way.
.
.
>>
"What the hell."
"It hasn't even been a day."
>>