He spent the rest of the night practicing. The air around him constantly shimmered with purple dust as he made the solid nebula disk appear, then disappear. He focused on making it rise higher, then hold steady. He tried to think of it like lifting a heavy stone, but with his mind. He practiced making it move faster, then stop. Each time he failed, the disk would shake, flicker, and vanish, sending him sprawling. But each time, he learned a little more. He tried to make it bigger, wider, so he had more room to stand. That seemed to work better, but it drained his energy faster, making the disk disappear quicker.
As he practiced, the sounds of the night forest became apparent. He heard many weird calls and howls, sounds he didn't recognize from his village life. At one point, he had to stop everything and hide. A large mantis monster, taller than he was, with razor-sharp claws, clicked its way through the ruins of the village, its multiple eyes scanning the darkness. Kai pressed himself flat against the ground behind a pile of rubble, holding his breath until the creature finally walked away.
He kept going until the sky in the east began to lighten, the first hint of the sun's return. Exhausted, Kai dragged himself to the base of one of the surviving fruit trees in the orchard. He curled up against its rough bark, pulling his robe tight around him, and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.
He woke hours later, feeling stiff but somewhat rested. The sky was grey, and the air smelled damp. A soft drumming sound filled the silence. Rain. It was starting to pour.
"Great," he grumbled, pushing himself up. The rain plastered his new robe to his body, making it heavy and cold. "Just what I needed."
Despite the weather, he knew he couldn't waste time. He needed to figure his abilities out. The meteoroid ability could wait; he needed what could allow him to get to the other land as quick as possible. He needed to master this power. He started his training again, right there in the rain.
He held out his hand, trying to conjure the nebula disk. The rain made it harder, as expected. The drops seemed to scatter the purple dust as it formed, making the disk unstable. It flickered and disappeared almost instantly. "Come on!" he yelled, shaking his hand. He tried again and again, but the cold and the wet made it difficult to focus. His fingers were numb, and his mind felt foggy.
He tried to ignore the discomfort, forcing himself to concentrate. He pictured the nebula, solid and strong, pushing through the rain. He imagined its 'particles' tightly bound together, refusing to be scattered by the drops. It was a struggle. The solid disks he managed to create were small, weak, and vanished almost immediately. He tried the liquid form, but it just mixed with the rainwater, becoming nothing more than a faint, shimmering puddle before disappearing. The gas form was still completely impossible.
"This is ridiculous!" he muttered, rubbing his hands together to try and warm them. He needed this though. He needed to learn how to use this in the worse conditions.
He took a deep breath, letting the cold rain run down his face. It stung his eyes, but he kept them fixed on the spot where he wanted the nebula to appear. He tried to ignore the shivers running through his body. He imagined the purple stardust, not as loose particles, but as tiny, glowing bricks, locking together, making a wall against the water. He pushed his mind, forced it to focus.
He held out his hand. A small flicker of purple. It vanished.
"Again," he mumbled, his jaw tight. He tried to remember the feeling from last night, the surge of power. It wasn't there now, not with the sun up and the rain coming down. But he kept pushing.
A faint purple glow. It held for a second. A tiny, wobbly disk, barely bigger than his hand. The rain hit it, and it sputtered, shrinking, then gone.
"Come on, come on!" he urged himself. His fingers were stiff from the cold. He rubbed them on his robe, trying to get some warmth into them.
He tried a slightly different way. Instead of just pushing, he imagined pulling the energy, like drawing water from a well with a bucket.
This time, the purple stardust burst from his hand with more force. It swirled, forming a disk almost as big as his head. It glowed brighter, humming with a low thrum. The rain hit it, splashing off its surface, but the disk held. It held for three seconds. Then Four. Five! "Yes!" he shouted. But then, it flickered and vanished. He barely noticed the sudden sting from his cut as he pushed too hard.
He tried to repeat that feeling, that 'pull'. He made another. This one lasted six seconds. Another, seven. He was learning. It was slow, hard work, but he was getting better. It was going to be even easier when the rain stops.
He glanced up at the clouds, blinking rain from his eyes. A strange, worm-like creature with long, thin wings flapped lazily through the sky, partly hidden by the grey clouds. It was far away, too high to be a threat, but it was another reminder of the wild world he was in.
Just then, the rain seemed to lighten. It became a soft drizzle. Kai almost let out a sigh of relief. "Finally," he thought.
But it was only a trick. A minute later, the sky opened up again, and it started pouring, harder than before. The drumming sound of the rain on the leaves became more of a roaring crash. Kai groaned. He knew it was going to be one of those long, miserable rainy days. And in turn, a whole day of cold, wet training.
He gritted his teeth. "Fine," he muttered. "Fine. You want to be hard, I can be harder."
He went back to it, his movements stiff with cold. He focused on the 'pull' feeling, on the 'glowing bricks' locking together. He could feel his hands trembling, but he ignored it. Make the disk. Hold it. Try to make it bigger. Try to make it flat.
He pushed his limit, trying to hold one disk for as long as he could, even as his eyes burned and his head began to ache. He felt the energy drain from him, a cold, empty feeling, as the disk finally sputtered out. He collapsed to his knees, panting, completely drained. But he had held it for almost forty seconds, while it was raining even. He had made it about the size of a small table. He made incredible progress in such a short amount of time. Maybe would be able to leave this land by tomorrow.
"I'm doing it," he whispered, a smile on his face. "I'm actually doing it."
Suddenly, a loud snarl ripped through the air, close by. Kai froze, his eyes darting through the downpour. Too late. The familiar purplish shimmer of his power, the buzzing hum, it had drawn something.
A massive, shadowy shape burst from the underbrush, a whirlwind of teeth and claws. It was huge, at least four times Kai's size, built like a jaguar, but its sleek, dark fur was covered in gnarly, bone-like spines that stuck out like knives. Its eyes glowed a furious red.
Kai, exhausted and startled, reacted on pure instinct. He barely had time to flail, throwing himself sideways. The monster landed where he had been a moment before, its claws tearing up the muddy earth.
"No!" Kai gasped, scrambling backward. He knew he was too tired to use his magic well. He couldn't fight this thing. His only chance was to hide, again. He scrambled into a nearby thicket of bushes, pushing deep into the tangle of wet leaves and branches. His heart was beating fast. A genuine sense of fear enveloped him. I could actually die.
He could hear the creature panting, a heavy, wet sound, just outside the bush. He heard it sniffing, a deep, rumbling inhale. He pressed himself flat, trying to make himself invisible.
Then, with a terrifying crash, the monster launched itself into the bushes, right where Kai was. It wasn't a blind leap. It knew. Kai rolled, kicking, as a clawed paw swiped through the air where his head had been. He heard the tearing of leaves, the snapping of twigs.
He scrambled out the other side of the bush, not looking back, running deeper into the forest. The monster was right behind him, its heavy growls shaking the ground. He could hear it crashing through the underbrush, easily tearing through the plants that snagged and tripped Kai. He stumbled over roots, his legs burning, but he pushed on, desperate.
He heard a frustrated roar. The monster was still fast, but the larger roots and tangled vines of the dense forest were a problem even for it. He heard heavy thuds and frustrated grunts as it stumbled, giving Kai a few precious seconds of lead.
But it was gaining. He could hear its breath hot on his heels. A sharp pain ripped across the back of his arm. It had scraped him. He pushed harder, his lungs screaming for air.
Just ahead, he saw it. A massive tree. And at its base, a dark, gaping hole, too narrow for the monster's huge body. It was his only chance.
Without thinking, Kai dove headfirst into the hole, scraping his shoulders and back on the rough wood. He scrambled inside, deeper into the darkness, until he was pressed against the far wall of the hollow. He could hear the monster's enraged roar just outside, its claws scraping against the bark, its furious growls vibrating through the very wood of the tree. He was safe.