Elegy: Lost Shadow

Challenge

I am aura sensitive…..I have always been. The vibrations that living beings give off is something I notice the fastest.
    She held out both her palms, ready to attempt the counter she had in mind. Prime Visualization: Wind art; distortion. Her palms became coated in a green aura as the water bullets clashed against them. From the collision of magic, the water was forced to scatter as droplets which inevitably found their mark. They were able to hit her.
    Her hands were shivering as she thought, I failed. She was hyperventilating as she tried to catch her breath. Damn it. She thought before she was met by a crescent kick from her left. Even though she was fast enough to raise her guard on time, the impact sent her crashing into the ground.
    She rolled through and landed on both her feet while sliding back as she thought……..Wind art: Remnant chaos. She then proceeded to close her eyes. I don’t understand why it failed; I am sure that my ability is of the right nature…..and my attribute is volatile enough. I mean it is of the wind class.
   In her mind, she saw a green sphere heading towards her as she held out both her palms. Three of her blades returned to her and began rotating around her arms. Prime Visualization: Wind art; Distortion.
  The sphere collided against her palms before it broke to droplets which were able to strike her. She continued hyperventilating as she thought, For derived concept users like myself, a person's unique ability is something that they instinctively know how to use. My case is different though…..My ability is energy or rather…..I perceive energy changes induced through artificial means.
   Consider me equilibrium, with my ability, I should be able to change the nature of artificial induction by imposing a change on the system which results in the acceleration or retardation of particles. Put in simple terms, I should be able to change the resulting products…..well, according to prime visualization at least. I guess, I still have a few things to work out before my theory is complete and can activate.
  Otherwise, the only thing I will be using my ability for is enhancing my sensory ability to create Remnant chaos.
   Kano stood, watching her struggle to catch her breath, he could tell that she was up to something. That she had a strategy in mind. Was I too rough, he thought as he felt the cold spread throughout his body and its intensity increase. Portions of his aura began to crystallize before reverting back to aura and crystallizing again. They kept doing that as he walked towards her.
   She felt a humanoid outline of green aura dash towards her as it went for a sweeper. She jumped to avoid the it. Kano, who after attempting the sweeper, adjusted his footwork planting his left foot firm while on his right knee. Hardly had she stepped on the ground when he grabbed her right hand with his left one.  She panicked when she noticed the contact and went for a kick which forced him to release her. He was able to dodge it.
  When he looked straight ahead, he saw three blades heading towards him. He dodged the first one which clashed with a crystalline portion of his aura. He then proceeded to parry the second one before the third cut the part of his forearm, exactly where the bite wound was.
   The magic I am sensing from him is so uncharacteristic when compared to yesterday. There is such a blunt contrast. Right now, all I can sense is a calm and empty presence. His magic isn’t spreading through the air like before. Its like he is barely here.
   He raised his left hand as he took aim. Water began condensing around his wrist as he planned to launch another water bullet. His blue eyes begun dying to black. No sooner had they fully changed to black than the water scattered and fell to the ground.
  He began coughing as he held his ribs. His body was shivering as though he was cast into a river of ice. Its coldness matched only by its lifelessness. His aura dissipated as he fell to his knees. “Water…..Water……Wa..ter,” he said before he fell unconscious.
    Her aura dissipated as her blades returned to her and formed her bracelets. She opened her eyes as she began running towards him. I was careless, I didn’t notice it until just now but there was possible way he could have recovered that quickly from Counter Inversive Strike(CIS). I thought he was okay seeing that he could use magic but I was gravely mistaken.
     She noticed him shivering on the ground as he struggled to breathe. She touched his forehead to check his temperature. He is so cold….how is it even possible for someone’s temperature to drop this much. Its like he has been in icy water all this time. What kind of side effect is this? What type of magic is he using and what the hell is it enhancing?
……..
      I wondered as you and I went fishing. The weather was sunny but I honestly couldn’t depend on the weather to remain that way. You chose to change from the form you took, that of a child, you were fog again…..that bland black fog.
   “So you are choosing to stay like that,” I asked as I saw you float to my side. You did it as though it was the most natural thing to do and I felt glad for it. “I am….just like how you should stay as you are now.”
    No sooner had I heard those words than everything glitched out. I was in the cold icy water again. I wondered why even though I was there, even though I couldn’t swim and even though I was fully submerged…..
  I could breathe, I never got soaked….it was like the water could never hurt me. All the water that had invaded my body, forcibly left me.
.......
He felt water splash against his face when he woke up. He was hyperventilating as he felt lost, his mind was in shambles as he could make neither heads nor tails of the situation. The sunny noon wasn’t helping much as it aligned perfectly with what he saw. He turned to look to his side, when he saw that nothing was there. The fog wasn't present. That just implied that his dream was over.
    He felt just how fatigued his body had gotten. “You are awake….I am glad it worked.” She said as she put down the water bottle. He stared at her before saying, “Thank you….”
She squatted to reach eye level when she said, “Don’t worry about it. I have got your back.” When she said those words, she held out her half of the star. Kano shifted his attention towards it as he thought, I see…..so I really wasn’t overthinking it……you are no different at all. The same joke....the same cruel joke.
    “Hey!...are you still listening to me…..”
“huh..” he replied as he had no idea what she had just said.
“So you spaced out for a bit….. I said here is your water. It should help you out.” There is a strange spiritual vibration coming from the water. I feel as if that was on purpose. In case he ended up relapsing. I mean just splashing it on him seemed to wake him up.
    “Thank you, “ he replied. Having drunk all the water, he lied on the ground as he looked at the tree’s branches. It was around 1.00PM in the afternoon even though to him, it felt like it was still 9.30AM.
……
    As he was looking towards the sky, he suddenly remembered the two Antelopes that were caught in his trap. “Anemone…..do you know a place where they sell wagons. It doesn’t have to be something big…it just has to be something that can carry and fit two cows or something close to that.”
    At the time, Anemone was buried in one of books. She was caught up in a world of fiction as she tried to make heads and tails of assumptions made by the author when crafting the world. “How much are you willing to spend,” she asked before she flipped the page.
    He sat up before he said, “I can go up to four silver coins.”
She closed her book before she added, “If you had five, I might be able to do something for you.” When he heard her request, he thought as if it was payment for making her go through the trouble or something of that nature.
   “Sure….I can pay just fine.”
She gave him the book she was reading as she got back to her feet. “I will be right back,” she said as she took off.
…..
    She was gone for approximately four hours and Kano was forced to wait patiently for her to return. At some point, he got so bored that he fell asleep. Not that anyone could blame him, he was tired after all…to top it all off, the shade created the perfect atmosphere for napping.
      “Wake up….Kano!” she said while tapping his shoulder lightly.
“I am up….I'm up….what's wrong? Are we out of food?” he said as he sat up.
“You do realize that there was a reason I gave you the book, you know?” she said as she knocked on the wagon’s wooden body, “Anyway, I brought it.”
      The wagon was modeled after a traditional farm wagon but some alterations were made to basic dimensions. It had a nice bed from which to carry the load. A total of four wheels mounted to it , and a tongue and hitch mounted to the base of the front seat.
     “Wow….Where did you buy this?” he asked as he got back to his feet, “Were you running….you are sweating a lot.”
“I didn’t buy it….I made it myself. I thought that custom made would work better. Because when I was heading out, I saw two Aepyceros Melampus caught in a trap. So I thought I would design something steady.”
      “Wait….what are Aepyceros and what do they have to do with this?” he asked.
“Those, they belong to a species of Antelope…..Aepyceros Melampus are what you call impala. Since they were trapped and you spoke of cows, they had to be the reason,” Though they were much smaller than cows are, “I ended up making something with about (2×4)m dimensions with a max height of about 1.2m. The base of the bed is about 35cm off the ground. I was mainly focused on stability since I thought one of them weighed somewhere 40Kg while the other was somewhere at 47Kg. Those were my assumptions anyway.”
      He was shocked, left speechless by the number of assumptions she took. She looked so excited when she spoke that it was obvious that she enjoyed tinkering and experimenting, applying everything she knew.
     “Where did you learn all this?...” he asked, though astonished by what she was saying.
She smiled as she said, “I read a lot…so I ended up picking up quite a few things from books.”
He was perplexed as he asked, “Even the carpentry?”
“Yeah, you would be surprised at exactly how many authors speak of the subject. Don’t waste your money though….I will recommend you list of those to try….at least, they try to make their content learn- able.”
       As she spoke, he could feel her excitement. It became obvious at exactly how much she loved reading. It was like, books…..made up most of her world and it really showed.
“This is perfect….now I just have to figure out how to kill them,” he muttered to himself. She was able to overhear his muttering as she was in earshot and offered a suggestion. 
“Just give me three copper coins and I will kill them for you.”
       “Are you sure though……that's actually really cheap considering what they are .”
“I am, it’s fine.” After all, I only need enough to buy salt. It ran out this morning.
 “I will give them to you then,” he added.
       No sooner had he completed that statement than he heard her say that the task was complete. “How? You didn’t even move from that exact spot. I just gave you an answer like two seconds ago.” He was full of questions….there was no way she was telling the truth. She couldn’t have been able to pull off a killing without being present…there was no way that was possible.
     “We are actually a lot closer than you would like to think…..I mean they are within a 200m radius of me so my ability can operate just fine.” She then proceeded to raise both her arms. A total of twenty blades came rushing in from several directions. When they got close to her arms, they reverted back to bracelet pieces and formed her two golden bracelet on her wrists. At least I know what the limit of my Remnant chaos is. With all my blades, I can go up to a 400m diameter.
     As soon as she lowered her arms, she added, “The bigger question is how you are going to move the wagon in your current condition. Its not like you are going to use magical enhancements as you are right now.”
     He sighed as he said, “You are right.. I was planning to ask for your help on this one. Could you give me a wind boost all the way to Ganase's main market?”
Ganase is a village located south west of Varaline Southalis. Varaline Southalis is the southern most province of Conflagraflaria.
     “Fine, I will help you…..one silver though, “ she said as she sighed.
“No problem. “
…….
      As soon as they finished loading the Antelope into the wagon, Kano took a seat on top of a plunk that was mounted to hold the dead Antelope. Their method of death was decapitation.
     Anemone took a seat at the front. She proceeded to take about two deep breaths. Hardly had she finished when her golden bracelets began emanating a green aura before breaking to pieces. About eight pieces mounted themselves to the back , a total of six mounted themselves to the base of the bed. Four pieces split to two groups and attached themselves to the sides. Two each side. Two of her bracelet pieces roamed free, constantly rotating around her.
      This thing is really heavy…..I am not even going to bother changing them to blades….this way, I can maximize my wind output.
      As soon as she began releasing a green aura, her eyes dyed to green. The wagon began moving  forward as the wind generated propelled it , allowing it to accelerate.

Post chapter words from Anemone: My blades are useful for an  ample number of things. Cutting and even plaining wood just happens to be one of them. I am like a living factory.