"Sit."
Lucas's voice echoed in the underground chamber, dimly lit by glowing crystal sconces along the walls. Kaela hesitated, unsure, but eventually lowered herself to the floor. She took a deep breath.
Lucas stood across from her, arms folded. "You've been using aether without understanding it," he began. "That ends today."
Kaela frowned. "But I've never even done anything special—"
"Wrong," he cut in. "What you think is nothing… is raw potential leaking through. You don't know how to listen to your inner frequency. That's why you've never heard the truth of your power."
He pulled out a small, oblong glass object the size of a pebble—faintly pulsing red.
"This is a Resonance Core. It reveals your aetheric nature. Everyone has one. Few awaken it. Even fewer refine it. But the nature is always there—like a second heartbeat."
Kaela stared at it as Lucas placed it into her palm. It was warm.
"Now close your eyes," he instructed. "And don't search for power. Search for resonance."
> In this world, every person is born with a dormant connection to Aether—the invisible lifeforce that flows through the planet, through existence itself.
But that connection is personal. Unique. Each person's essence harmonizes with a particular frequency, and that frequency manifests as a distinct Aether Nature.
Fire, water, shadow, metal, gravity, these are not just elements. They are extensions of inner resonance. Emotional truth fused with aether creates power.
A calm person may channel healing or water. A vengeful soul might channel flame. A detached thinker could master wind. But not all alignments are simple.
Some rare individuals are born with unstable, volatile nature, unpredictable. Quick. Sharp. Charged by instinct and emotion. Most who feel that spark live with it . Others never awaken it at all.
---
Kaela sat in total silence.
The room disappeared.
She breathed, letting the rhythm fall into her chest.
The pebble began to warm. She didn't think about power. Or purpose. She thought about the feeling she always carried—the way her chest tightened when people tried to control her. The way her limbs twitched when she was forced to stay still. The electric tension behind every second she held herself back.
Snap.
A sudden sting danced up her spine.
Inside her mind, it was as if a switch had been thrown. Her aether surged—not wild, but alive. It didn't flow like water. It didn't burn like fire.
It cracked.
Red sparks burst from the pebble in her palm. Her eyes snapped open. Arcs of flickering crimson lightning leapt between her fingertips, erratic and sharp.
Lucas's eyes widened.
He slowly stepped forward, watching as her body shook slightly with the current—still raw, still unstable, but undeniably powerful.
"...Red Lightning," he whispered.
Kaela blinked. "What?"
Lucas looked her in the eyes, stunned. "It's real. You've awakened a Vira-type Sparkstream. That's one of the rarest known forms of aether alignment in the world. It's called the Vermillion volt.
He paused, then added:
"There are others like you—maybe six or seven known worldwide. But almost all of them are adults, soldiers, or hidden deep in research labs. You… you've awakened it on your own, without compression, fusion cores, or relics. That's very rare"
Kaela stared at her fingers, where the red lightning danced, then faded.
"Why does it feel so... familiar?" she asked softly.
Lucas nodded. "Because this isn't just some random gift. It's you. Your emotional state, your personality, your inner essence—all of it fused into resonance and drew this nature out. The power didn't choose you. You were born from it."
He began pacing slowly.
"In advanced aether science, we believe that the aether inside someone is like a reflection of their soul's shape. That's why when people unlock their Nature, it often feels like they've finally found themselves. You didn't learn lightning. You are lightning—restless, charged, always seeking motion."
---
Teaching Begins
Lucas held out a thick steel rod.
"Strike this."
Kaela hesitated, then extended her hand. Nothing came.
Lucas smirked. "You need to feel the same inner resonance again. The emotion. The instability. The truth."
Kaela closed her eyes, remembered the tension—how the world always tried to force her to be still, to stay quiet, to obey. That rising anger at being contained.
Crack!
A red bolt shot from her palm, blasting the rod from Lucas's grip. It clanged to the floor, smoking.
Lucas whistled. "Yup. That's real."
He crouched in front of her, tone now serious.
"Kaela. This power… is dangerous. Not because it's evil. But because it reflects you—raw, unfiltered. If you lose control emotionally, the lightning will follow. Your journey now is to train not your body, but your center. The more focused you are, the more deadly you become."
Kaela gave a rare, half-smile.
Hmmm "Sounds fun."
---
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