Draconia Offline vol. 1

26.1. Not to Trifle With - Part 1

The telekinetic wave sends the Earthborn flying and pushes everyone in its way aside. The man hits the fall and screams in pain but the room grows otherwise absolutely silent. Everyone is staring and gasping for breath. Only Liana is sensible enough to call for the doctor right away.

I'm standing, frozen, and still royally pissed. My feathers are puffy with anger which probably makes my wings look fluffy but I don't care. I can feel my mana pouring uncontrollably out of my pores, creating breeze around me.

"Snap out of it, Aefener," Liana shakes me but her Celestial mind isn't making me any calmer.

Fortunately, Erik appears. We did agree to go for lunch together after all. For a while he's totally confused, trying to make sense of what he's seeing: an injured Earthborn, scared Draconians, oppressive silence and for a change no one in my vicinity.

"Erik, do something, Aefener isn't in his right mind!" Liana begs him.

He still doesn't quite grasp what happened but he always goes for a comforting hug as default. I connect to him on reflex, finding refuge in his welcoming presence. He's so familiar... so... human. I calm down and finally realise what I've done.

"I... I'm s-so s-sorry," I stutter. "I didn't m-mean to... is he okay?"

I'd feel if the man was dying, of course, but horrified emotions all around me aren't exactly reassuring. Several Draconian jumped to the Earthborn while Erik was calming me down and they feel really worried. I gently push Erik aside and hurry to the poor guy. The Earthborn are nowhere near Dragonkin resilience or Clawfang agility but they should have the power of absolute regeneration, right? Right?!

"I'm so sorry... I... I wasn't in control...," I collapse on my knees next to him.

I look at his palm and my feather is still there but it doesn't make me angry anymore. I notice that his hand looks... quite sticky? I didn't feel any bad intentions from him, he couldn't have planned for it. His palm probably got stuck to my wing by accident as he discovered a new ability.

"J-just like i-ingame—no trifling with Celestial wings," the man coughs with difficulties. He's in serious pain, I imagine some of his bones must be broken but the way he's looking at me... almost apologetically. He doesn't blame me. Which makes me feel even guiltier.

"This is not a game, I could have killed you," I whisper and shiver. "Hold still, I... I can try..."

I don't know what I'm doing exactly, to be honest, but I put my hands above his chest and desperately try channelling as much mana as possible. How did healing spells feel like ingame? Warm, soothing... comforting. Just like Erik. I close my eyes and try to put as much tenderness into the spell as I can muster towards a stranger.

I can tell the spell is way higher than my current abilities and my mana was already quite depleted from the training with Liana. Under normal circumstances I most probably wouldn't be able to do it. But the adrenaline, the guilt... it pushes me to my limits.

I recall the transfiguration symbol associated with healing spells, my hands lighten up bright and the symbol actually materialises under my palms as a floating hologram. The onlookers gasp for breath again but I don't let myself be distracted. I continue casting and the world around me disappears. This close I can feel the man's pain almost as if it was my own so I know exactly where to apply the healing magic.

"Ryuu, that's enough!" Erik shakes me urgently.

I blink, suddenly disbalanced, and the spell gets interrupted. I perceive my surroundings once again and most importantly feel my own body. My hands are shaking and I'm almost completely out of mana.

"He's going to be okay, you did your best, Aefener," Dr Stein praises me.

I didn't notice her arrival at all, I was too absorbed in the spell. Fefnir takes the Earthborn off the ground and together with another Dragonkin puts him carefully on a stretcher. The bodyguards are trying to make some space because the hall got clogged again because everyone was pushing to watch me casting.

I try to get up but I wobble. I feel drained... so drained.

"No fainting, Ryuu, you do that way too often already," Erik takes me into his arms. "You did well, love," he whispers into my ear.

"I... I just need to rest a bit," I say weakly. "Is he going to be okay? I don't know how much I managed to heal. If anything."

"He's going to be okay," Julia assures me. "Erik, see to it that Aefener eats a lot, will you?"

"To your apartment," Liana orders us because the crowd starts to get restless. "Send someone to bring us food, please," she tells one of the human employees.

Only now I notice Emi and Ingri as well. Did they see the incident or did they come a bit later together with Erik? I turn red and stretch one of my wings to hide my face. Everyone keeps staring and whispering to each other.

"He budged me with that wave... and I have over a hundred kilo now."

"Was that really a transfiguration symbol? Can we actually materialise them here?"

"It was harsh but that Earthborn was asking for it."

"There's no touching Celestial wings without permission, that's for sure!"

I sigh out in relief when the elevator door closes. For once, I'm grateful to that metal box which causes my claustrophobia. Emi, Ingri and Fefnir have to take another elevator because ours is already full with the bodyguards. Liana starts caressing my wings because she knows that I'll want to talk with Erik telepathically.

So... what happened? Erik asks me right away.

I don't know how to describe it properly so I decide for something a bit different instead. I try sending him images and how I felt during the incident. It's like a video memory with an emotional subtext.

Damn, Ryuu, that's super scary, he trembles.

What's scarier? The fact I hurt that person over something quite petty or that I stopped thinking like a human? I ask, afraid of his answer.

Aefener, I'd probably react in the same way, Liana tries to comfort me. Why are you so scared of your new nature? I'm also a Celestial and I'm perfectly reasonable even if I think about stuff a bit differently now.

I... I guess I'm afraid of losing control over my abilities... which is exactly what just happened, I say truthfully.

Well, it's true that if someone like you loses control, it can have catastrophic consequences, Liana admits. But if you fight your new nature, you'll never get used to it. I think the key here is to come to terms with it.

Am I holding you back? Erik asks. You lost control after we were separated for a few hours. Maybe it's me who is still binding you to your previous human self.

I was never quite human from the beginning, I remind him.

You know what I mean.

The elevator stops and we get off. The rest of the gang arrives just a few seconds after us. I'm relieved that the hall is totally empty but then I realise that one has to enter a password to stop at this floor. It's only private apartments here. Still, we don't feel quite safe until we're behind the closed sound-proof door so that we can speak freely.