Children of the Aura

Barbecued Telepath, Anyone?

The year is XXX32. The daughters of the emperor have taken a trip to Amphigur I, which is home to the strongest faction of green mages, known as the 99 Hands of Jade. It has been eleven years since the twins were born.

The Tools of San Jupero are harder to use than one would think. The legend says a mage only needed to pour their aura into the Crown to activate it. However, that is not the case.

The crown does require aura, but it converts aura into electricity. By doing this, The crown stores aura and converts it back to it's previous state for whenever a mage needs to cast a spell. In a sense, it acts as a storage space for aura. The two elevated slots on the Crown slide down to complete the Crown when it is fully charged. This keeps the electricity in a closed circuit that constantly flows within the Crown.

Now this may sound easy, the process of converting aura to matter takes practice. If a mage poured their aura into the Crown of San Jupero too quickly, their skin would take on the heat exchanged for the conversion process. If a mage only poured their aura in to the Crown in small amounts, it could take months, even years, to fill the crown. Most mages choose the former method to speed up the process.

Because of this, mages who wear the crown are charred within moments of activating the crown. Aquarius was one of them.

Snakes of plasma slithered through her, burning her fair skin to as black as burned bark. her hair was gone in seconds. Trying her best to keep her mind intact, she failed to stifle a scream.

With her body flaring as bright as a thousand suns, she screamed in agony. When she could no longer pour aura into the Crown of San Jupero, the power was snuffed out. her body dropped to the floor, her mind diving into the unconscious.

A pair of green mages, members of the Ninety Nine Hands of Jade, rushed to heal her. In seconds her blackened flesh was mended. Skin grew over muscle and tendon. Her hair sprouted out of her skull. Though her bob was frizzier than before, it was the same length. The second mage treated her mind, bringing her back to consciousness to prevent her going comatose.

Sitting up, Aquarius growled. How long had she been at this? An hour? Why was it not working?

"Perhaps, sister," Gemini chirped. She sat at the sidelines of the room. A familiar yellow mage sat beside her. "You should try a different method. If the crown won't attune-"

"It will attune." Aquarius snapped. She stood up, refusing assistance from the Hand that healed her body.

Attuning wasn't the problem. She'd felt the Crown's power through her right arm. Maybe she needed the Bow as well?

No! I'll attune without it. If I want to be strong like San Jupero, I need to muster the weight of the crown alone.

That was how she did things. Brute strength. Resilience. Determination. If the bow made it easier to control the crown, she wasn't going to use it yet. That was a sign of mediocrity. And Aquarius was not mediocre.

Inhaling, she called upon her aura. Violet droplets rained around her. As she guided them to the crown, each drop of her aura filled the crown. The instant her aura filled the crown, the runes on it lit up, and thus did her body.

Just as before she was charred black. Once more she hit the floor. Once more she was healed. Once more she got up.

This time she tried a new method. Instead of forcing her aura into her Crown with a wave, she poured her violet energy into it slowly. Like sipping coffee, the crown drank up her aura bit by bit.

It was working! Slowly, but at least it wasn't-

The grip she had on her aura slipped, plunging the crown in energy. Slowly her body burned, though she wasn't charred this time. Instead her skin melted. Gritting her teeth, her paralyzed body stood there. She couldn't even blink until her body was rejuvenated.

Trying the method again, this time at a slower rate, she managed to pour her aura into the crown at a steady pace. Last time she only expended a fourth of her aura. This time she spent half of it.

Her skin began to warm. It was nice at first, her muscles relaxing as she poured a bit more into the crown. Steadily, sip by sip.

Aquarius didn't notice her sister leaning forward on the bench watching with curiosity.

The warmth became heat that started to burn her skin. It started to warp. Within three minutes, her skin was lumpy playdough over a manikin.

What was she doing wrong? If filling the Crown up too fast was burning her, why was pouring it slowly having the same effect?

She growled, pouring her aura into the Crown slower and slower after each healing to no avail.