Growing Connections

A simple meal gave energy back to them. Where rest recovered their bodies. The torture still left some lingering effects on their bodies. Yori could tell by the way Miho walked that she still battled with the consequences. Not quite stumbling, but less confident steps, a little awkwardness from depth perception.

The relic the man used acted similarly to that of his eye. Though rather than creating an overdose, it sent mana into the body to reproduce a flood. Where the overdose filled the internal reservoir, the relic produced mana from the outside that forcibly entered the body. Akin to drowning, but with a far more disassociated feeling and one that sorcerers had no protection against.

Effective and very deadly, death by mana was a maddening experience, as though every sense was pulled from the body and yet wasn’t. A mass of contradictions that the mind couldn’t grasp. Like staring into infinity and being unable to comprehend the magnitude. One would likely go insane while suffocating from the very cells in the body.

It racked the mind severely. Each movement had to be managed and considered because doubts crept up that it was even your body. Nothing felt real. Yori had some small experience during his training, but it was done in a controlled environment. Even he felt how it screwed with his balance.

They made it back to the car without falling. So he considered that a success. The idea of driving felt like it was a bit of a risk, but he didn’t really have a lot of options. They were losing time. The syndicate had to be already on the move.

As Miho stepped inside to follow him, she glanced over. Some of the intensity looked to be drained out of her. “Where are ye goin’? They aren’t gonna be there anymore.”

“While I drove us back, I sent an update to Section 14. They’ll be combing over the site. Maybe they can find a clue. Who knows, maybe they’ve already found something. They are trained mana investigators.”

“Very well.”

He forgot how far away the trafficking happened. And worse, they never witnessed the actual moment. Yori hated knowing that more innocents were dragged into the hands of criminals. They were just desperate and confused. It made them easy to manipulate and, no doubt, in debt to the groups forced to do whatever dirty work they needed. It needed to stop.

Half an hour into the drive, Miho appeared to have recovered enough to have a conversation. “Can ye explain this anti-sorcerer training?”

Keeping his eyes on the road, he had a few ideas of what her question was. “What specifically? It's a long process.”

“Ye can do things that aren’t possible. That jump from the building.”

“Oh, you’re talking about mana enhancements?”

“That wasn’t an enhancement; no enhancement is that powerful.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. On this side of the Veil, we can’t use spells, but we still have mana. Which means we can focus more on enhancements. We have to deal with superhumans that can throw lightning and fire, so we’ve developed our means to meet them. Where you’ve refined your spells, we’ve spent that time pushing enhancement to its limits.”

“But it shouldn’t be possible. To achieve your results, ye’d have to poison your body with mana.”

“That is certainly a risk with what we do. We pump a lot of mana into our bodies, but with precise control, you can produce smaller amounts of higher quality to force out better results.”

“If that’s true, ye’d be some of the strongest military grade sorcerers!”

“But I can’t cast spells. So I’ll never be one.” It was a point of view that he hadn’t really considered. She nearly seemed envious of what he could do. However, if she lived on this side long enough, she’d probably improve. Mana control was something all of the sorcerers picked up, thanks to it being the foundation of spellcraft. There were plenty of people who knew how to use it. Hell, athletes could do it unconsciously, unrefined as it was. It provided that extra burst of strength to push past limits. It made those miracles possible. Not that most knew it.

Yori thought back to last night. The conversation made him realize something. “Hey…sorry. I’m used to going solo, so I didn’t talk about what infiltrating would mean.”

“What are ye tallkin’ about?”

“I guess you don’t know. Any sorcerer that’s been here long enough has to adapt to the fact that people like me are a counter to them. So they learn our techniques to keep ahead of us. Silencing your body is one of the first things you learn.”

“Silencin’ your body? Ye did seem to make no sound somehow.”

“Breathing, stepping, muscles, every part of your body needs to be controlled. Naturally, sorcerers aren’t as good as we are in it because it takes years to develop. But one part that’s easier to learn is enhancing your senses. Channeling your mana properly to enhance your senses, you can have superhuman detection. It’s how I can find people through buildings. But it’s also how they spotted us.”

“Ye mean me. I was wonderin’ why it felt like it was an insult.”

“I was trying to apologize. It means we can’t approach the way I normally do. They’ll spot us. You need to know that sorcerers here are different.”

“Fair. Mana sense is the only thing we practice to enhance. I’m not skilled in that type of enhancement.”

“Then we cover for each other’s weaknesses.”

There was silence from Miho. She remained quite the mystery for Yori. But it was plain to see how much pride she had in her capabilities as a sorcerer. And the drive that ran her head first into trouble, equal parts worrisome and noble. For as much of a headache as she was, it was hard for him to reject her. But it made teasing her a lot of fun. No one had brought out that sort of side before. Perhaps having a partner wasn’t all bad.