The Gemini Age: Book One

[18-2] Gemini Soul - Part Two

    Though she had no practical use for the skill given the early emergence of her Cold soul, Jade enjoyed swimming. Submerging herself in a large, open body of water invigorated her more than detached magical manipulation ever could. She adored swimming through rivers and ocean tides that rushed around her, defied any attempts to halt them, and whisked her away with an inkling of nature's full power. Pools and baths could never compare.

    This was not swimming. This was sinking.

    Light-blue waves pricked with white particles unfolded all around her, dazzling her with their shine every few seconds. The drift of the glowing specks gave Jade the sole indication of her direction, and the lustrous environment raced past her eyes faster when she tried to claw her way back up. After too many failed attempts to fight her descent, Jade left her arms at her sides and let the stream take her.

    It was definitely a stream of some kind. All over her, a warm glittering fluid passed by her body without dampening or marking it. Not a fraction of the copious amounts of filth that had accumulated on her clothes shifted for the torrent, nor did the dangling sleeves of her hoodie trail upwards in response to her apparent sinking. It was like she had cast a shield around herself to preserve her from the fluid, only Jade did not know where to begin trying to repel this mystery substance.

    Making no obvious progress, Jade let her hand drift through the fluid, stretching out her fingers to draw individual trails that vanished as soon as her mind registered they were there. She tried to channel a small amount of it out of curiosity more than hope, yet that produced noting beyond a sharp jolting pain through her head. The substance was formless, untethered, and too unstable for her to touch.

    It was pure energy straight from the world's core.

    As the realisation landed in her head, the particles began to jitter around her. Jade tensed herself for a sudden landing, yet the pressure that struck the back of her legs was not a surface but a surging updraft. The energy engulfed Jade in a burning grasp and forced her back, draining the air from her body as it did so. Blood rushed through her ears and heat pressed into her skin to the verge of tearing it open.

    Ahead of her, a thin crack in the powder-blue seas leaked untarnished white light into the stream. It was far too small for Jade to fit through, yet the updraft dragged her towards it with apathetic abandon. She tried to scream but no sound emerged, and the act of moving her jaw aggravated the fiery pains rampaging over her skin. Stuck in the flow, Jade shut her eyes and curled up as best she could.

    Her consciousness fled the second she felt the impact.

    ***

    She woke up in a misty crystalline shell. It was even smaller than she thought it was at first glance, with barely enough headroom to let her sit up straight. The frosted glass around her was too difficult to see through without an opening, yet from the cold cobblestone surface beneath her she knew she was back on something like familiar ground.

    Jade tapped the crystal with her knuckle, widening her eyes as the deep thudding sound revealed its imposing density. With unwavering obstinance, it eluded her efforts to part it with magic so effectively that she never received a gruesome shock like that from the fluid. The crystal was more stable than the fluid, yet the air around Jade chilled whenever she tried to use her magic, like dark clouds gathering before the first crack of a thunderstorm. 

    The crystal overflowed with raw magical energy. Even if she could crack it open, it would unleash power she had no chance of controlling. 

    Keeping her hands clear of the glassy mass around her, Jade made out the sketch lines of her reflection in the crystal's surface. Raw magic, in her experience, dissipated as soon as it left a wellspring, its energy breaking down into smaller, containable elements. It certainly never hardened into a stable rocky material that withstood her direct touch without complaint. It never rose up from the earth in an immovable shell.