129 Magic potential (1/2)

Ellie could not stop looking at her own arm.

Starting from her elbow everything after was some kind of metallic material that was somehow blocking Lilith's sword. A silver blade, much like the blades that belonged to the living weapon.

”Ellie...?” Said Evlin without knowing how to react.

The girl herself was just as shocked as everyone else. They were all staring at her just waiting for some kind of explanation, but Ellie was probably more lost than anyone there.

Lilith finally put her sword away as she tried to process the situation as well. ”Your... Your eyes!”

”My eyes?” Ellie tried to rub her face as if it had dust in it. ”What's wrong with my eyes??”

Ellie was starting to get scared. People were looking at her like she was some kind of anomaly. Evlin noticed her uneasiness and decided to come closer to her. ”Ellie, Ellie let me see your face.”

”Ah... Ok...” The girl said as she lowered her arm and accidentally stabbed the grass. ”Ugh!”

”Never mind that now.” Evlin said as she tried to stop her niece from looking away. Evlin took a good look at her face and noticed that Lilith was right, her eyes had a faint blue glow in them, a similar kind of glow that Lilith would have when she used her blessing.

Evlin then stared at her arm, or rather, her blade that was coming out of her arm, which was now slowly beginning to shrink and return to normal. The glow on her eyes was also fading away revealing her usual blue eyes again.

”Aunt Evie... What is going on?? Why is everyone looking at me weird? I'm getting scared!”

”Ellie... I... I...” Evlin had no idea of what was going on. Her niece just managed to use not only her diamond magic, but she also managed to use Lilith's future sight and Marcus's holy metal, two abilities that required divine energy to work.

Evlin was starting to panic. For a teacher, one of the most important traits is the ability to maintain a composed face even in front of the most extreme situations. If the teacher starts to lose control, the student will lose control as well. But in this situation, she just had no idea of what to do.

”Evlin...” Lilith said as she called her attention. ”We should... Ugh... We should talk to East...”

”East...?” Evlin looked at her friend confused.

”She's lived longer than any of us... Maybe she might have some idea of what's going on with your niece...”

Evlin then realized that Lilith had noticed her panic and was trying to help calm her down, even though the idea of asking East for help was probably killing her inside.

”You're right... Let's go talk to East...” Evlin said. She then looked at Ellie again and grabbed her shoulders. ”Everything will be ok... You heard me?”

”O- Ok...” Ellie said while still looking a little shaken. She kept staring at her own arm as if worried it would turn into a knife and stab someone by accident.

Evlin was so mesmerized she almost forgot Marcus was there as well. She turned around and saw the lad staring at Ellie's arm as well. Evlin wondered if he might have some kind of clue himself. ”Marcus... You have any idea of that was all about?”

”Ah...” Marcus tried to think but nothing would come to mind. Unless Ellie had managed to get herself blessed in her sleep, there should be no reason for her to be able to perform that act. ”Sorry...”

”It's ok... Let's... Let's just go look for East...” Evlin said, slowly feeling like she failed at her mission on being a proper role-model for Ellie as she saw the girl constantly trembling.

As Evlin passed by Marcus he was reminded of what he originally intended to do by coming here, but he felt that now might not be the right moment to address that. Looking at Ellie, she seemed just as terrified as he used to be when he was alone with his mother.

The group then returned to the hotel and reunited with Daren and East. Marcus still didn't feel like being in the same room as his mother so he simply returned to his post of keeping watch with Sphinx. Daren almost considered going with him but Lilith seemed like she didn't want to be in the same room as East either, so he decided to stay to keep her calm with Lance in his arms.

East was sitting on her bed drinking a cup of coffee, as usual, and listening to Evlin's explanation while she continued to hold Ellie's hand. East realized she was the only one in the room who didn't seem like a mess, which she found refreshing. Everyone was either worried about Ellie or uncomfortable by being close to the former goddess.

Once Evlin finished her explanation East simply took a sip from her mug and just looked at Evlin as if she was trying to remember her shopping list.

”Sounds like mirror magic...” East said.

”Mirror magic?” x 4

Everyone in the room just stared at the blond woman waiting for her to explain further.

”Unlike our little crossbow mage over here whose affinity is based around transforming things, the young miss seems to have an affinity related to copying things... The ability to mirror the powers of those around her... Like a child that tries to imitate anything that it looks at that it finds interesting...” East said as she looked at Ellie.

”So Ellie's affinity is mirroring?” Evlin said as she noticed her niece's hand slowly stoping to shake.

”Indeed... Mirror magic is usually a very basic form of water magic taught at schools for students who have a harder time grasping the more advanced spells that their teachers try to have them learn. Imagine it like having someone holding your hand while you try to do something you're still not prepared for.”

”Oh... Really?” Ellie started to fell a little embarrassed. East was basically telling her that what she was doing was a form of baby level magic. Trying to copy what the grow-ups were doing while you still couldn't develop your own style.

”Indeed... But even then, this kind of magic should only copy one ability at a time, and just the most basic of its forms... But you managed to use many at the same time right? And not only that, you even used blessed abilities... Most children would have struggled to even copy crossbow girl's ability to create earth, but young miss over here jumped straight into making diamonds. That's very impressive.”

Evlin was shocked. This was probably the first time she ever saw East praising anyone that wasn't related to her.

Ellie's expression became brighter. That last comment made the little girl look at her own arms again as she was now feeling like she had done something amazing. A few minutes ago she was wondering if maybe doing that kind of magic made her some sort of abomination, but it turns out she was some kind of genius performing a very basic type of magic with extremely good efficiency, just like her aunt.