The Cold She-wolf

Chapter Sixty-five: the summer manor

Krystal's POV

   My heart had never raced that much in my entire life till that point. Sweat broke out from the surface of my skin, but maybe it was the heat of the place. I almost laughed at myself knowing that I was still lying to myself. Admitting that I care about someone outside the people I grew up with was harder than I thought.

   Lenius put me down on a broken table. The core room was the opposite of my imagination. When I imagined the core room of the summer lord, I didn't imagine it to be this… pathetic. The room had almost fallen apart and the large rock which I guess was the core had multiple cracks in it. The rock was so small and thin. It was sad to look at.

   "This place is indeed a mess," Lee commented, shoving his hands into his pockets as he strode over to the brimstone rock. "It seems like this place was designed to look like a volcano. Which means the fire magic of this world's summer lord is volcanic,"

   "Yours isn't volcanic. Isn't that going to be a problem?"

   "Not really. It's even better for me. I'm just filling energy into the core and upgrading it a bit, that way, the new lord will have another branch of fire magic. If he succeeds in gaining a new one, his powers will link to me and I will acquire all his abilities. Right now as I am, I can only manipulate light, including holy light, and heat. I have pyrokinesis, yes, but you can see that it isn't much. My guess is that he or she might gain the ability to manipulate acidic or toxic fire. Along with volcanic magic, that's a good addition."

   I nodded in agreement and watched as his yellow hair began to glow even brighter than before. The light transferred to his body and laced it like a second skin, beautiful sundrops and sparks surrounding him like fairy dust. The heat in the room became reasonably warm as his energy went off in waves. It wasn't logical for me to be there knowing we were polar opposites, but the sight of it was worth it.

   Lee placed his hand on the rock, his other hand still in his pocket. A bit of the light drew a circle around his hand and his energy spread in the rock. Bit by bit, the rock started to fall off like the broken shell of a snail. Only what was inside the shell was a sight to see. It was a crystal, one with patterns I'd never seen before. The rocks continued to fall, bit by bit. It looked very simple in my eyes but I knew it must be hard for Lee.

   Beads of sweat had formed on his face along with twisted veins, and his hand was beginning to tremble. His legs trembled occasionally and his heartbeat was faster than before. He must be in pain. "It's stronger than you calculated, no?"

   "It's more like the core doesn't want to be revived," he growled, his voice filled with spite. "It knows what I plan to go and doesn't want that,"

   I scoffed and folded my arms. "If it doesn't want to accept it kindly, then break it until it has no choice but to." Lee looked at me from over his shoulder and I got to see his sun eyes glowing like two yellow torches. He looked at me thoughtfully for a few seconds before he smiled and turned his head again.

   Lee retracted his hand and flexed it a bit. I watched as he brought out his other hand and gathered energy in his fist. He swung his hand circularly with every second his energy built up, increasing the force of his punch. After gathering enough energy, he threw his fist and bashed it against the crystal. The crystal cracked all over like glass. Lenius attempted to punch it again but stopped and chuckled darkly. "Smart choice," he smiled. The core finally gave in.

_____

   Lee groaned, his breath puffing out on my cheek. I chuckled and tightened my hand around his waist. The core recreation took a lot out of him, more than he bargained for. He completely reconstructed the rock into a sun crystal and it grew high, almost touching the ceiling. It also expanded more than before. Still, he hadn't refilled the core yet.