The moonlight spilled softly through the dome's arched windows as dome seven settled into quiet.the gala has ended few hours ago,but the night was far from still.
Elira stepped into the shared room she now had to call home,her footsteps were light,but her mind raced with too many thoughts to allow sleep, The color of the gala still linered behind her mind,the gleam of floating lights the sound of hushed people gossip,the flare of magic around powerful guest . She had stood in the center of it,a new name with unknown strength,and yet all she could feel now was the hum of pressure wrapping around her .
Lyselle bed was empty,her her sword rack no longer held the gleaming silver blade Elira had seen earlier,a faint this echoed beyond the dome wall ,Elira stepped quietly to the window and looked down to find lyselle in the dome private training field. Lyselle's figure danced in the moonlight,sword in hand, movement sharp and unrelenting.her long braid snapped behind her with each turn,a storm of discipline in motion.
Down the hall,kaelen had a soft gray glow pulsed from inside her room.kaelen sat cross legged, surrounded by gentle currents of mana thet shimmered like soft flames ,her eyes were closed ,her breathing steady.
They weren't wasting time,not after what had happened at the awakening
Elina returns to he space , determination coiling in her gut . She might not fully understand this world but she wasn't going to fall behind.
The room still held the faint scent ,she retrieved the pale blue man crystal her father had given her,then set it in the carved indentation at the center of the floor mat.
She sat cross legged,hands resting on her knees and exhaled slowly
Starting the first cycle of cultivation,the beginning of her path.
She called to her mana ,not by force ,but by stillness she had learned during the gala that water was not a magic of domination,it was a magic of listening of sensing the unseen current,of bending with the flow to gain strength.
The mana responded in flickers at first small,slow moving particles of light that hovered near her skin like dew drops on leaves,Elira inhaled gently trying to match her breath to the rhythm of the pull
Breath in mana gather s
Breath out man settles in her poll
Over and over ,until her body began to pulse softly in rhythm with the flow ,her senses opened wider,she felt the cool tingle of energy seeping into her pool,not rushing but trickling,pooling in small spaces in her chest and lower abdomen.
She reached for more ,and the flow slipped away "too fast" she murmured.
The moment she tried to control it,the mana scattered,she had to learn to ride the current,not redirect it,it was frustrating balance staying focused while staying passive,it felt like trying to hold water in your hands only for it to spill out of the edges.
Still,the more she practice,the easier it became,she found moment brief ones where the flow matched her breath exactly where she could feel her body absorbing it in sync with the world around her.it was like standing in a river and learning not to fight the tide.
Time passed, she didn't know how long her limbs grew heavy,and she grew sleepy,her spine aches but her core felt lighter ,fuller . Like something was shifting inside her not physical her awareness had expanded. She wasn't quite the same Elira who had returned from the gala
Eventually,she opened her eyes . The room was dark ,the crystal beside her dim and depleted ,I guess this is why cultivators needed family for resources. Outside the window,the stars had shifted.
As Elira climbed into bed,she let her body sink into the mattress, muscles sore but her heart steady, tomorrow would be her first full day of training. She had no illusion about what lay ahead.