On his first night in the Sylvan refuge, Richard awoke screaming.
An acute pain, like thousands of burning needles, ran through his left arm—precisely the one he had used to channel most of his temporal manipulation during his escape. He sat up abruptly, desperately pulling back the blankets to examine the source of the pain.
What he saw left him frozen.
His left arm, from fingertips to elbow, seemed to have aged decades in a matter of hours. The skin was wrinkled, with age spots and prominent veins. The crystalline veins that previously pulsed regularly now appeared fragmented, like cracks in antique porcelain.
```
[SYSTEM ALERT: Temporal rebound detected]
[Physical damage: Localized aging]
[Status: Consequence of temporal overload]
```
"Elyndra!" he called, his voice trembling with panic.
The door to his room opened immediately. It wasn't Elyndra who entered, but Lyriath, the Sylvan healer, followed by two assistants. Their somber expressions indicated they had expected this complication.
"We feared this," said Lyriath, examining his arm with trained eyes. "Temporal rebound. Your body is paying the price for forcing abilities you weren't prepared to use."
"What... what's happening to me?" asked Richard, trying to flex his fingers and feeling joint pain typical of an octogenarian.
"When you manipulate time without proper training," explained Lyriath while her assistants prepared bitter-smelling ointments, "you don't just affect the outside world. Time also flows through you. What you did at the megalithic circle... that temporal interstice and the subsequent distortions... was extremely reckless."
```
[Diagnosis: Cellular chronological disjunction]
[Natural recovery: Impossible]
[Treatment required: Advanced Sylvan stabilization]
```
One of the assistants began applying a bright green ointment to the affected arm. The relief was immediate but superficial—the pain decreased, but the aged appearance remained.
"Will it... will it reverse?" asked Richard, with a lump in his throat.
Lyriath exchanged a somber look with her assistants before responding.
"Partially. With intensive treatment, your arm will recover approximately 70% of its youth. But there will be a permanent temporal asynchrony in those tissues. A scar of time, so to speak."
Richard processed this information with growing horror.
"I was arrogant," he murmured. "I felt the power and simply... used it."
Lyriath nodded gravely.
"It's the greatest danger for fragment bearers. The power seems infinite, but the mortal body has limits that cannot be ignored."
```
[New restriction: Temporal Control BLOCKED]
[Condition for unblocking: Minimum training of 2 weeks]
[Risk: Permanent damage to the bearer]
```
At that moment, Elyndra entered the room. Unlike the other Sylvan, her face showed not only concern but also some guilt.
"I should have warned you more clearly," she said, approaching the bed. "The Terra-Time and Air-Spirit fragments are the most dangerous for inexperienced bearers. Temporal manipulation, especially, is a skill that many Sylvan spend decades mastering before attempting anything remotely similar to what you did."
Richard remembered the temporal interstice he had created, the distortion he had imposed on the pursuing agents. Acts he had performed out of pure necessity and with confidence born of ignorance.
"I ignored the signs," he admitted, recalling the terrible resistance he had felt, as if the universe itself opposed his actions.
Lyriath began wrapping his arm in bandages made of a translucent fabric that glowed faintly.
"You won't be able to use temporal manipulation for at least two weeks," she dictated. "Your body needs to heal the chronological disruption. Any premature attempt could result in irreversible damage."
When he was finally able to get up, Richard discovered that the refuge was smaller than he had initially imagined. What seemed like "many" Sylvan was actually a group of barely twenty individuals—the last vestiges of a civilization that had once flourished.
"This is the last true Sylvan enclave on the continent," explained Elyndra as they walked through a curved corridor carved inside a colossal tree. "We are so few that we've concentrated here, in the heart of the Umbral Forest."
Richard then understood the magnitude of what he was seeing: not a prosperous population, but the survivors of a dying civilization, gathered in a last bastion.
"What happened to them?" he asked, observing three young Sylvan practicing complicated magical gestures in a small interior garden.
Elyndra's expression darkened.
"The same force that fragmented the Primordial Codex. The same entity that now Lancaster and his Organization, unknowingly, are helping to return."
```
[Crucial information: Connection between Sylvan extinction and Codex fragmentation]
[New variable detected: Unknown entity]
```
"Does Lancaster know? Does he know he's being manipulated?"
"I don't think he understands the true nature of what he's pursuing," Elyndra responded. "He sincerely believes that gathering the fragments will bring knowledge and power beneficial to humanity. He doesn't understand that some barriers exist for a reason."
Richard contemplated his bandaged arm, a painful lesson about the consequences of playing with forces he was only beginning to understand.
In the afternoon of that first day, when Richard met with Elyndra in the Practice Circle, the training plan had radically changed.
"We will focus exclusively on terrestrial manipulation for now," she announced. "Your connection with the earth is naturally stronger and, more importantly, much less dangerous for a bearer in your current state."
Richard nodded, looking at his aged arm with a mixture of shame and determination.
"A lesson learned the hard way."
```
[Training plan adjusted]
[Focus: Terrestrial Manipulation exclusively]
[Temporal Control: Theoretical studies only]
```
During the following hours, Richard concentrated on basic exercises. Unlike the temporal powers, which had flowed with alarming ease and devastating consequences, terrestrial manipulation required conscious and methodical effort.
"Feel the connection between your being and the earth beneath your feet," instructed Elyndra. "They are not separate entities but manifestations of the same primordial force."
Richard closed his eyes, extending his perception downward, through layers of earth, feeling each grain, each root, each stone. It wasn't a power he could carelessly throw around; it was a conversation, a dialogue between equals.
By the end of that first day of modified training, something had changed in Richard. The arrogance born from the ease with which he had manipulated time had transformed into a deep respect for the limits of his mortal condition.
That night, as Lyriath changed his bandages and applied new ointments, Richard contemplated the day's lessons.
"Terrestrial manipulation is slower," he reflected, "but also more... consensual. I'm not forcing anything."
Lyriath nodded, her elderly hands working delicately on his damaged arm.
"Time resists changes because its nature is to flow freely," she explained. "Earth accepts modifications because its nature is to remain, to adapt. They are complementary opposites within the same fragment."
```
[Improved understanding: Dual nature of the fragment]
[New approach: Collaboration vs. Imposition]
```
"Do you think I'll ever be able to use temporal control safely?" asked Richard, observing the age lines on his left hand.
"With time and respect, yes," answered Lyriath. "But never forget this lesson, fragment bearer. The cosmos has balances that even the most powerful must respect."
With these words resonating in his mind, Richard truly began his training as the bearer of the Eternal Core, now aware that the path to genuine mastery was not in the display of power, but in the deep understanding of the responsibility it entailed.
```
[Character development: Humility and respect acquired]
[Mental state: Cautious determination]
[Next stage: Basic mastery of Terrestrial Manipulation]
```