“Either way, it’s someone who can pose a threat even to me, if they lure me in an ambush alone.” Faluel said.
“What does that mean?” Friya swallowed a lump of saliva as Faluel’s voice became colder by the word.
“It means that you’re a liability that I can no longer tolerate.” The Hydra replied.
“Wait. What’s the difference between her, me, and Phloria?” Quylla stood between them, in the attempt to stop whatever Faluel had in mind.
“She made a blood oath to me, whereas I’m trading knowledge with you, just like I’m doing with Nalrond. As for Phloria, she is Lith’s responsibility, not mine. Friya is the only one besides Lith I have an obligation to.” Faluel said.
“Are you going to kill me or to make me into your Harbinger?” Friya needed sheer willpower to not make her voice quiver. Death was far from alluring while becoming a Harbinger meant losing all of her privacy and part of her free will.
“Neither. You’ve passed all of my tests, but you’ve yet to gain my full trust. Luckily for the both of us, there is a third way. Come.” Faluel beckoned at Friya as she shed her human form and turned into a 20 meters (66 feet) seven-headed Hydra.
Friya gulped again, but this time in wonder. The creature had a stumpy body covered in dull greens scales the size of Lith’s house. Her necks, instead, moved with an almost hypnotic grace and each one of them was covered by scales of different colors as big as a tower shield.
Without much of a choice if not to trust her master, Friya moved past Quylla and walked right in front of the Hydra.
“Just relax and remember to breathe.” The seven heads spoke in unison while triggering the arrays of the lair.
“I’m not going to give birth, right?” Friya winced at her own joke as a sudden pillar of world energy engulfed her.
She felt as if the air had become as heavy as lead, making it hard for her even to remain conscious. Friya’s whole body burned like fire while the flow of world energy became so strong that it lifted her in the air.
The seven heads wrapped around her and used Lifestream, Faluel’s breathing technique in unison. As the pain grew until it became unbearable, Friya’s life flashed in front of her eyes until she was reminded of everything she had learned inside the Fringe.
Suddenly all the voices and whispers she had heard there made sense, Awakening her core.
Yet the Hydra bloodline’s Awakening technique was very different from the natural process. It was the reason why Faluel hid Friya from the sight of the others. The Hydra used an elaborate mix of breathing techniques and Body Sculpting to smoothen the process.
Faluel used Lifestream to follow the impurities’ movements, giving them small nudges to hasten or slow them down according to the circumstances. Thanks to Faluel’s influence, the impurities flowed to Friya’s core and then out of her body in a slow but regular stream instead of painful sudden bursts.
Body Sculpting, instead, nudged Friya’s body in the right direction, allowing it to always pick the most efficient development path that also led to the best possible result.
Together, the two techniques made the Awakening process faster, less painful, and capable of tempering Friya’s whole being to its utmost limit. When the seven heads released the young woman, Solus was in for a surprise.
‘By my Mom!’ She thought while sharing the readings of mana sense through their mind link. Not only did Friya now have a deep blue core and a body already at its peak, ready to evolve again at any time, but she was also brimming with energy.
Be it Awakening or a breakthrough, it was supposed to be a traumatic event that left the subject weakened and in dire need of rest.
‘No shit, Sherlock.’ Lith replied while sharing with her what he saw with his regular eyes.
Friya’s hair now had the six colored streaks of the elements, making her resemble Mogar’s incarnation that they had met in the Mindscape.
“What the fuck?” Friya and her group said in unison. “What’s wrong with my/her hair?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it.” Faluel reverted to her human form and drank a keg full of tonic to quickly regain her strength without wasting more uses of Lifestream. Friya was fine whereas the Hydra was exhausted.
“I thought you didn’t want me to become your Harbinger yet.” Friya listened to the silence in her head, waiting to hear the Hydra’s first telepathic order.
“You’re not a Harbinger.” Faluel conjured a comfortable bed since she needed to rest and the explanations might take a while.
“Then what does this mean?” Each one of those present grabbed Friya’s hair making her feel very uncomfortable. “Wasn’t she without any elemental affinity?”
“Yeah, right.” Faluel said with a sneer. “Friya, did your Professor Rudd have any streak?”
“Aside from grey hair from old age, no.” She replied.
“Did any of you ever wonder why even genius magicians have no streaks? Or how is it possible for them to become Dimensional Mages, something that not even all Awakened can?”
An awkward silence befell the room as the class racked their brains for an answer.
“I’m tired so I’ll keep this short. The hair of a human works exactly like a white mana crystal.” Faluel said.
“What?” Their reaction made Faluel wonder if it was her being too old and tired or them being a bunch of morons.
“You heard me. A colored streak is nothing but an imbalance in the mana flow due to an elemental affinity that overpowers the others. It works just like enhancing a specific element in a crystal. Do you follow me?” After they nodded, she continued.
“If all elements are balanced, they are colored white, but unlike a crystal, hair has a natural dye that covers it.”
“Wait. Does that mean that all people with no streaks, like Lith, have all elemental affinities? If yes then why didn’t he get any even after Awakening and why has nothing changed for Phloria and Tista?” Quylla asked.
“Heck no! Have you been listening to a word I said?” Faluel snarled in annoyance.
“It’s like the damn crystals. Normal people have no elemental affinity, like Lith. He has two because of his beast and Abomination side, hence even Awakening did nothing because it’s not related to his human body.
“Awakening worked for both Phloria and Tista, making their streaks more vibrant. Friya, instead, is a natural with all six elements, which is very rare and makes her look like a regular human.
“Did you really never wonder how could she practice dimensional and even gravity magic so well without affinities?”
Everyone felt dumb at those words, even those like Solus who considered themselves brilliant.
“Long story short, Awakening gave her affinities a push as well, splitting them like a prism does with light. Friya, if you work hard enough, you might even get the seventh, so don’t let me down.” Faluel said.
“Wait, what? Isn’t it supposed to be visible from the start?” Lith asked.
“Have you ever seen someone with just emerald green streaks?” Faluel said with a sigh.
“No. Only people who also had the other six streaks had them.” He replied.
“My point exactly. Spirit Magic is not an element, it’s the sum of all elements once they are imbued with life force.”
In case you wonder, this was heavily foreshadowed for a long time. Do you remember how even at the academy Friya was presented as “someone equally attuned with all elements” and a rare dimensional mage? Do you remember how the elves saw her? (“the elements flowed in harmony inside her body and orbited around her in the form of a star belt comprised of six small suns of different colors.”)
