76 Animal Rescue (2/2)

”First we clean up their messes then I'll tell you more.”

I groaned and sighed. At least I was used to this work. My mind delved back to my Gat s.h.i.+em days when I cleaned out the fox and rabbit dens with Pesti.

Thoughts of my brother stirred my heart and mind into a disarray and impatience. Do we really need three weeks to train for the program? Can't we do it now? With my new powers, I'm sure I could be more than ready to a.s.similate into one of those machines, infiltrate that mansion and save Pesti no matter what the cost.

Ouch! I winched at the stinging pain to my cheek. Did Trix just slap me?

I gulped at the flash of dark red to his aura. What the h.e.l.l was he angry about?

”Stop thinking! Do as you're told if you want to save your brother!” Trix scolded me.

”What is your problem?” I snapped back.

Trix raised his hand and pointed to a series of cages that the seniors had brought in.

The animals were gasping for air.

”Trix. What's wrong with them?” I approached the metal cages and fumbled with the latches with worry.

”You were stealing their chi because your thoughts were on something that stirred this power.” Trix soberly answered.

I stared, shocked. That wasn't right. I was thinking of my brother about how I wanted to save it at all costs.

My heart panicked when grey particles streamed from my aura and started gathering the little color energy dots from the animals in the cage.

”STOP IT. NO. STOP!” My body trembled. I didn't want this.

Trix said a spell to block my chi and stop the process. He opened the cages with a sweep of his hand and said another spell that made me drop to my knees with pain as I felt all the chi that I had recently absorbed drain out of me and return to their rightful owners.

Small compensation for my unintended crime. I panted for breath and a sigh filled with relief when I saw the animals were resting, their chi showing colour again.

The captain slumped to the stone floor before me, taking a moment to reclaim his breath before he explained the phenomena.

He had used his hīrā magic to steal chi from me and redirect back into the weaker beings, using his body as a conduit.

I listened on his basic explanation of hīrā magic. It

This type of magic was a relied on the heart to direct a caster's good chi outward, so they could heal another being, in exchange they received the bad chi into themselves as compensation. It was obvious that the more good chi exchanged would ensure bad chi absorbed, making it possible for the caster's body to be destroyed. Heart Cakra used the same process, but on a drastic scale. This knowledge made me nervous with concern if Leinard was truly okay after he had performed his heart cakra on me.

”Say, Trix. Is the Colonel okay?” I quietly asked.

Trix regarded me shrewdly before answering. ”He's fine.”

Somehow, I felt his answer wasn't correct but I wasn't going to get more out of him so left it at that.

He got me up and explained on our first real exercise and lesson in hīrā magic

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