Swept

The Spark Falls in the Territory of the Azmin on the Azzit continent

Shain was breathing way too hard. It had been half a day and he had believed everything would've come back to him by now. Not only were his abilities weak and muted but his tone body was in poor shape.

How could he have so many muscles and zero endurance.

He laid on his back on a smooth ebony rock, sparks of light dancing around, above, and on him.

He had just used his powers for the umpteenth time and his body ached as if it were the first time ever in his life and his exertion had lasted for an hour and not the mere five minutes that it took for him to be on the brink of passing out.

His mind was buzzing and his thoughts were fuzzy.

Growing up he practiced 8 to 10 hours everyday and his range extended for thousands of miles. Now here he was almost dead after extending his abilities mere inches for only five minutes.

He pursed his lips and shook his head. He moved to get up and instantly felt something gently pressing him so that he could not move. He turned his head to look up to his right.

Rachel and Cramnal were moving fluidly on a raised natural platform of the same black rock surrounding him. The showering light from the Spark Falls flowed over and through them as they each maneuvered through different abilities.

Rachel casting, chanting, and scrying; and Cramnal calling forth different types of doors, arches, and tunnels.

They worked seamlessly around each other. The sparkling light of the Falls aiding them and augmenting their powers.

"Release me sister. I need to work harder."

Rachel did not look at him she merely spoke while in perpetual motion. "If you die of exhaustion you can not help us. Besides you can not make up for everything in one go. It will take time for everyone to trust you again."

His body seemed to sink a bit further into the rock but he said nothing.

He sat up cross-legged and looked to the meadow where Rebecca was training. Because he had not used his ability to see in a long time he could not truly see her but he saw the waves of power flowing above the area like wavy lines upon a blistering hot skyline.

He exhaled deeply. "I only have 2 more days. I have to be at least half of what I was before we leave."

Rachel said nothing as her right arm extended before her and a rainbow spiraled forward then up seemingly ripping the fabric of reality before she closed her hand and it dwindled to nothing.

'You need to regain more than half brother. I will not be able to handle that black mass alone.'

He exhaled slowly as her words seemed to soak into his consciousness. He began to draw in the lowest spectrum of light and allowed it to feed his soul well. He would gradually build up and take in as many spectrums as he could.

He suddenly realized that he should have started from the beginning and not the middle.

The Azmin training grounds:

Azmin were beings of light and as such their magic was light magic. They could manipulate light in a myriad of ways to perform all kinds of things.

Through light magic they could "see", read fate, move objects, walk through time, dimensions, distance, and space. They could heal, learn, and manipulate the elements themselves.

Because the Azmin core, or soul well, was pour light they essentially had the fundamentals to perform any and every type of magic known and some unknown.

Usually an Azmin was only born with one ability but there were many that were born with two. It was very rare for anyone to be born with three and if someone was born with four abilities they were seen to be on par with the Milana.

Being born with only one ability was not a hindrance. Azmin could learn different abilities as well. They were only limited by their soul wells.

The Azmin training grounds was very similar to the Spark Falls in that they had high concentrations of color magic.

The complete Azmin guard was currently training. Most of the guard specialized in combat types of magic but there were also healers, spell casters, and those that could craft magical items.

Regardless of their main ability everyone on the guard could fight with color magic. The Azmins had a fighting style that used flows of light that wrapped around their bodies and had both offensive and defensive aspects.

Everyone on the field was currently practicing this fighting style.

The color of the magic that folded around a person was determined by their ability, personality, experience, and overall capability.

Just because someone had three colors within their protective swirl did not mean that they had three abilities but it did mean that they were strong. The person's strength was usually directly related to the number of colors in their protective swirl of light and how vibrant and distinct those colors were.

Cer was sparring with Yanira and Bre with Althius. Cer, Bre and Althius had four deep colors within there protective swirl of light while Yanira had six.

Not only did all four of them have a thin wall of color protection they moved so fast they looked like blurs of color.

They moved within swirling colors that both defended and attacked. This fighting style used color magic like an interactive suit of armor. The personal light of the person would swirl around them; moving over their skin. With a thought color could be used to lash out to attack or become denser in areas to protect.

Well trained Azmin could use their personal light along with body movements in a fighting style that was unique to them.

Personal light was different from light ability. Personal light dwelled within the soul well of the Azmin while light abilities were unique to the ability. Individual ability light color can change due to an individual's personal light mingling with their ability light.

The guard had practiced together for many centuries so they ran through drills quickly.

Sublyme sparred with Zolon. Light streaked forth from her in thick stands swirling forward to form a cyclone of color that bared down on Zolon. In response Zolon sent forth thick green lightning. It looked as if they were in actual battle and not sparring.

Allania and Tillynia, the last two Azmin guard commanders, fought hand to hand using their protective-defensive swirling light as their weapons. Tillynia was able to quickly change her light into diverse weapons and direct them to Allania instantaneously. Allania was proficient in defense and could cause her protective light to instantly counteract in attack.

The Azmin guard was quickly building its strength.

The Great Library

Emil set in a central position within the most central chamber of the Great Library. He was not practicing or meditating. He was thinking. He was so engrossed in his current line of thought that he was oblivious to everything around him.

As he thought a faint orange light had begun to move about him. First at his head then at his heart. As he became more engrossed a thick thread of soft pink light began to move alongside it.

Now, as a concrete feasible idea was forming, the two strands of light were merging in certain areas around his forehead and his chest.

He began to understand how chaos was like bacteria to his realm and some chaos was needed while others could cause problems, or "illness".

He could not help but wonder why he had never realized this before and had Rachel known the entire time.

The chamber he was in was a knowledge chamber and even if you did not know how to utilize knowledge to the fullest the room stood as a conduit to allow a person to utilize knowledge magic to help in learning and explanations.

Emil felt he had learned more in his current visit to the library than in all of his previous visits combined.

Anis wove patterns of fate in the air. She did not want to weave specific fates but she did want to focus on fates concerning her realm specifically. The patterns varied and as she watched them form she could understand in half a moment if they dealt with the past, present, or future.

She could manipulate complete patterns by effecting the pattern on a grand scale or by effecting the tiniest aspects of a given fate strand.

She had cold sweat on her forehead from intense focus because today she was increasing her ability again and manipulating 5 fate patterns at once.

Patterns differed in scale and intricacy and Anis wanted to be able to form and manipulate 7 fate patterns before she, Emil, and Struns left the library.

They had already done a lot of research and now Anis wanted to be sure she was ready for the upcoming task.

The purple light plumed from her core. Strands of yellow and pink swirled and intertwined within the light patterns of varying shades of purple.

Only a small part of her mind "read" the patterns of fate as she concentrated on completing the formations.

As the fifth fate pattern formed Anis' eyes swirled in purple-silver patterns. Her soul well surged as it worked to stabilize the final pattern and Anis felt her awareness expand.

Suddenly all five patterns dispersed in puffs of deep purple plums and Anis leaned forward heavily, fully exhausted. A slow smile bloomed across her face.

Her hold broke in a mere 2 seconds after the fifth patterned formed but she read all five fate patterns in half a second. For her it was a great achievement.

Mis was deep in the labyrinthine library. Shelves of books spiraled above him on intricate pathways made of a strange crystalline material. The type of crystal varied from level to level but it was always clear with a brilliant clarity.

The crystal helped readers focus and allowed them to absorb information abnormally quickly.

Mis' was born with a knowledge based ability and the main colors that swirled around him were in varying hues of pink. They swirled about him as he absorbed, categorized, and processed information he had recently obtained in the library.

His mind reeled as his soul well swelled. As the information fed his growing body of knowledge his ability grew.

A pink stream of coded data slowly moved about him. As it gradually sped up it became more and more complex.

The color darkened and the stream became more dense. As soon as he fully understood all he had learned, when he knew how it fit into different aspects of the different realms, and when he could associate the most minute detail to known information his eyes swirled a deep pink and his soul well expanded.

As his ability increased his body became invigorated and his mind became clearer.

Mis set back, breathing heavily, and slowly smiled. He had achieved more than he thought he would.

His eyes were still a vibrant pink as he thought about what he needed to do. The library responded to him and sections began shifting and a new room was formed. Both Mis and the head curator materialized within the new room.

Breccor looked to Mis. "It seems you have finally awoken Alvian." He bowed his head in respect.

Mis did not reply. He merely looked at the new addition to the library. He knew what it meant and he knew what he needed to do.

He also knew if he proceeded with this the library would hold him for a week.

Before he had a moment to think Rachel spoke to his mind 'Finally! You are now the Alvian. Good. You need to learn the library and see if you can learn how to control the libraries like ancient Alvians have been documented to do. The libraries are on each planet and it is rumored that at least one is in the abyss. This can be a weapon and a resource for us.'

'But sister I want to help with...'

'But won't knowledge be the greatest help to us? What if this type of chaos has happened before? What if you can understand something about the chaos that the rest of us have overlooked or deemed as unimportant? What if...'

'Okay Rachel. You have convinced me. I have a sneaky suspicion that both you and Anis already knew my role.'

He felt Rachel's telepathic shrug. 'Both of us do read fate.'

Mis looked to Breccor. "Is there anything I need to do before entering?"

The other man shook his head. "You just need to enter and be willing to accept what the libraries give you."

Mis pondered the older man's words, calmed himself and entered the newest room of the Great library.