Chapter 101: Overload

Chapter 101: Overload Lynnor couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed. Mozrael broke through from Genesis all the way to Gold in one sitting? It took eight- twelve years for one to accomplish that if all went well. And Mozrael did that in days? Days??? If she were in the academy, she would immediately move up to the top students’ level. Very few students were at the Gold Gate, and they were highly valued. Their highest ranking students were two who recently broke through to the Crystal Gate. Was this girl even real? Mozrael finally opened her eyes after she felt the energy was settled, but something was wrong. She half-expected to feel different, but nothing changed. Her heartbeat slowed, her breathing was normal, so what was the energy she felt earlier? She saw Lynnor staring at her, which worried her. Did she do it wrong? "...I did it like you told me. I even felt the energy flowing well, but..." I didn’t feel different. Lynnor was surprised by what she said. Did that mean she didn’t even notice a change in herself? Moving up even a step was accompanied by a lot of changes, and this girl just skipped twelve years of changes just to say she didn’t feel anything. Or maybe she didn’t see right? Mozrael broke to the Gold Gate, right? "Mozrael?" "Mm?" "You don’t feel anything different?" Mozrael thought for a bit, then shook her head. "Nothing." "Try to sense the flow of energy then. Feel within you how it flows," Lynnor suggested. Braking through like that should have so many changes in a person, so why was she not sensing anything? She should be able to sense things better, and even feel her strength increase without anyone telling her. Mozrael tried, but nothing changed. She was still the same person she was before. She opened her eyes and shook her head again. Lynnor thought for a moment, then asked Mozrael to try the breathing exercises again. Mozrael complied, though she doubted anything would change. As she sat and controlled her breathing, Lynnor studied her. She reached out and felt Mozrael’s aura. It was gold, but felt weak, almost as if she were standing beside a more powerful cultivator whose aura masked hers. After waiting a while, Lynnoe decided it was enough. "Come on, we’ll resume tomorrow." Mozrael got up, feeling disappointed. As she climbed out, she thought of how she’d felt the energy. She remembered the warmth that spread through her body before the energy all rushed to her heart, then exploded again. "Maybe it’s stuck in my heart?," she wondered. Curiosity too over and she pried. All of a sudden, Youm burst through from her heart. She felt the warm sensation again, and this time, something else. I’m glowing gold? But she was excited. Lynnor felt the energy rush and turned around to see Mozrael standing beside the clothes she was about to wear, glistening gold all over. "She actually did it," Lynnor muttered. She was shocked. "Lynnor! Does this mean I broke through?" Mozrael asked, all giddy. Lynnor couldn’t help but return the smile. "You did, kid." Mozrael still felt the energy flowing all around. Once again, she tried to feel the Youm on her own. Suddenly, her smile disappeared. It was as if the world tore open. A chorus of insect chirps swelled from unseen places. Leaves rasped against one another like whispers. Steam hissed faintly from the spring’s surface. Branches scratched in the distance. She could even feel the faint tremors of an ant’s steps, each grain of sand shifting under its tiny feet. Her eyes flew open—only to find no relief. The forest burst into painful detail: the texture of bark split into a thousand lines, the glint of dew on spider silk, the slow twist of air currents stirring the grass. It wasn’t just sight and sound. The air itself pressed against her skin like wet cloth, heavy and suffocating. Every breath carried too much — the metallic tang of iron-rich soil, the sweet rot of fallen fruit, the musk of some animal that had passed through days ago. Even her heartbeat thudded like drumbeats from inside her skull. It was too much. She staggered back. A sharp cry tore from her throat as she clamped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, but the sounds and sights only swelled. Her body trembled, tears streaking her face as she crumpled to the ground. Lynnor rushed to her side, panicked. "Mozrael! What’s wrong with you? Moz..." But her voice sounded like a mountain exploding in Mozrael’s ears. "Stay away from me!" She screamed and pushed herself away from Lynnor. She fell into the spring, thrashing in the water, looking for balance, but it only made it worse. The water in her ears roared like a waterfall, each droplet sliding across her skin with the weight of stones. She could feel every ripple in it. Her screams became more erratic gurgles as she struggled in the water. Aramith appeared at the scene, confused and panicked. Lynnor struggled with Mozrael before pulling her out, but Mozrael just kept screaming. Aramith’s heart pounded. Why was this happening? "Mozrael! Why are—" "SHUT UP!!" She tried to fold into herself to avoid everything, but nothing could help. And things were getting worse. The glow around her became brighter and purer. Then she felt it— a more excruciating pain from all over her skin. Scales began to manifest all over her, forcing their way out of her body. They covered her whole body, pulsing with an eerie blue glow. Her jaw shifted a little, and her teeth turned sharper. She cried out like a dying animal, her eyes flying open. They immediately slitted like a snake’s eyes. The bright light was too bright for her, bursting into her vision like a kaleidoscope of colors. Lightning crackled around her body, and bones twisted with a crunch, bursting forth from her back. They burned with blue flames, mixing with the golden glow. "Make it stop—please—make it stop!" She gripped her head in pain and suddenly shot forward, screaming. THUMP! She nocked herself into a tree headfirst, snapping it in two. She fell in a crumpled heap and stilled. The tree fell forward with the loud sound of snapping branches, about to crush her. Lynnor rushed to her side at once, raising her palm to the tree. A powerful wind shot at it, disintegrating the tree into tiny splinters that scattered in the sky. Aramith, however, was still frozen. What he’d just witnessed shook him. His legs couldn’t hold him, and he fell to his knees. He wanted to move, but fear gripped him, making it even harder to breathe. The place was all silent now, but Mozrael’s screams still echoed in his head. Lynnor wrapped Mozarel up in a cloth and quietly took her to the fireplace. She inspected the girl’s bleeding forehead, but right before her eyes, the wound closed, stitching itself back as if there wasn’t a deep gash just a second ago. Mozrael’s body trembled with every breath, and though the wings had disappeared, the scales on her body refused to fully disappear. They glowed and twisted all around her body, coiling and flowing in dragon patterns that burned blue. Lynnor checked further and saw the marks moved from her neck to her feet, constantly changing location. This turn of events was something she half-expected. She knew the sudden leap from Gebesis to Gold would make it extremely difficult for Mozrael, since she wasn’t given any chance to adapt to each stage, but this level of chaos was out of her expectations. And to think she was transforming as well. For a moment, Lynnor wondered how she would have reacetd if she didn’t know Mozrael’s dragon form. Lynnor’s thoughts weren’t allowed to settle before Aramith dragged his feet to the fireplace. He sat opposite Mozrael and Lynnor, afraid to even raise his head. Lynnor understood his fear. "What happened?" Aramith’s throat worked, but no sound came. His palms were damp, his fingers curling against his knees to keep them from shaking. It wasn’t the dragon form that unnerved him — not really. It was the way she’d screamed, the way her voice had cut through him like a blade. For a second, she hadn’t sounded like Mozrael at all. He stared at her, wrapped in cloth but still faintly glowing, and wondered if she’d even recognize him when she woke. "Why did this happen?" He asked. He couldn’t remember the last time Mozrael had transformed. He’d almost forgotten she had that dragon within her. Lynnor looked at him well, noting his trembling hands he tried so hard to hide. "She finally broke through," she said. But Aramith didn’t understand. "Is it normal for her to react that way?" "Well, it’s not." The only sound was the crackling fire. "There’s one other thing that led to this." "What is that?" Aramith asked. Lynnor exhaled before saying what she still refused to believe. "Mozrael broke through, but she didn’t end there." "I don’t understand what you mean." Lynnor didn’t answer right away. Her gaze lingered on Mozrael, tracing the restless movement of the marks across her skin. When she finally spoke, her voice was quieter than before."Mozrael broke through," she said, "but... she didn’t stop at one gate. She didn’t stop at two."She met Aramith’s eyes."She went from Genesis... all the way to the last gate of Gold." Did I hear right? For a moment, the words didn’t make sense. They just hung in the air, weightless and absurd, like she’d told him the moon had fallen into the sea. Aramith’s head snapped up so fast his neck twinged. "Gold?"Lynnor gave a single, deliberate nod. "That’s... no. That’s impossible. You know how long it takes just to move through one gate. You know—" He broke off, hands curling tighter against his knees. Years. Even prodigies needed years. And Mozrael...I can’t even cultivate properly. He remembered her glowing in the clearing when he arrived, the light curling like molten metal around her. Remembered the way her screams had hollowed out his chest. His stomach turned. "So...you’re telling me she did that in days?" "I couldn’t believe it myself," she said, "but it makes sense that way. She wasn’t given enough time to adapt to each step or gate, so the sudden change disoriented her." Aramith swallowed hard, eyes flicking to the restless blue marks moving under her skin. "And those? The scales... the light? That’s because of it?"Lynnor’s gaze lingered on Mozrael. "Most likely." We can only understand things better when she wakes up. Though I hope we find a solution to this soon. We can’t go to the academy with her like this. Too much attention." Academy The word was a reminder of the situation they were in. They would have to blend in with several people in that place. He thought his darkness was going to be the biggest problem they would face when it came to blending in, but now Mozrael’s state was an attention magnet. She’d skipped several years of cultivation to reach Gold, and then there were the marks that suddenly appeared on her skin.