Lana screamed and struck the water again. She had been doing this for well over half an hour
Her fist shattered the pond's surface, sending a spray into the air that glittered briefly before collapsing back into ripples. The reflection broke, reformed, broke again—never stable long enough to look back at her.
She lift her hands bleeding at the knuckles, the water calm it irked her.
"I don't want to be weak," she said, voice hoarse.
She hit the water again. Coloring it slightly before being diluted by it.
'This is pointless' She thought 'but...'
"I don't want to be weak!" She screamed.
The forest did not answer. It never did. The distant roars still rolled through the trees, low and furious, but even they felt detached now—like thunder from a storm that had already chosen its victims.
Her shoulders shook. Not from cold. Not from fear.
From the crushing, familiar certainty that knowledge alone had never been enough.
Magic academy had taught her all sorts of things alchemy arithmetic's politics all that jargon she could do nothing with.
She fell to her knees at the edge of the pond, fingers digging into wet soil.
"What is the point," she whispered, "of understanding everything… if I can't protect anyone?"
Her voice cracked. She hated that most of all.
"I calculate. I plan. I prepare." Her hands clenched. "And when it matters, I always run."
The water trembled again—not from her strike, but from something far away. Something enormous.
She envied the bear it could shake what she had to bleed to fail at, envied Auther he had everything, she found a pattern se envied the strong. Who doesn't respect them, Neon was a piece of shit yet women flocked to him ache lades and even magic towers the world bent over backwards for idiots.
Lana's breathing slowed.
She looked up.
Not at the trees. Not at the forest canopy.
But at the majestic sky colored tackily by monotone blue
"Why do I have to be exploited, used, hurt, weak and utterly helpless, it makes no sense you seem to chose randomly but most of the times you choose selfish idiots."
The sky could not answer she viewed it as would not, It was pale, indifferent, boundless. The same sky that had watched her father disappear. The same sky that watched her flee again today. It never had anything to say.
"Well," she said quietly.
Her eyes burned—not with tears, but resolve.
"I will not accept the limitations this stupid world places on me," she said, the words forming with sudden clarity. "Not strength. Not fate. Not fear."
Her pupils flared faintly blue.
Mana bled into her vision—not violently, not explosively, but precisely. Lines appeared where none should exist. Flows overlapped. Pressure, density, reaction rates.
She moved.
By the time Auther found her, she was calm.
Too calm.
She knelt near the pond, hair tied back with trembling fingers, both hands moving at once—scratching symbols into the dirt, erasing them, replacing them with new ones. Numbers overlapped. Ratios collapsed into vectors. Half a dozen ideas lived and died in seconds.
Auther stumbled to a halt.
"What—" he began, breathless, panic sharp in his chest. "are you—"
"Shut up."
The words snapped like a whip.
Auther froze.
"I need quiet," she said, not looking up. "If you want to panic, do it somewhere else."
He stared at her. Part of him was angry. Another part—worse—was hurt. He had expected tears. Fear. Relief.
Not this.
"I thought you'd be worried sick," he said. "Viola's still—"
"I know," Lana said flatly. "And you think screaming will help her."
She finally looked up at him, eyes sharp, calculating.
"Would you rather I sit on the sidelines shaking while you both die," she asked, "or actually try to change something?"
Auther swallowed.
"…What are you doing?" he asked more quietly.
"I'm trying to build a weapon," she said. "For myself."
His heart sank. "You can't outmuscle that thing."
"I know," Lana said. "That's the problem. Nothing I design gives me enough mechanical leverage."
Auther clenched his fists.
"There's no time for this," he said. "I don't need you to fight. I need a potion. Something that lets me move more mana."
She frowned. "That would kill you worst case scenario cripple you permanently"
"Why would being cripple be a problem?" He asked
"Cause once all that potential is gone you will be just like me ridiculed and weak." She replied
He was shook he had no idea her feelings were that deep, but he had no time to deal with all that emotional baggage.
"Then figure out how it won't," he snapped, then softened. "You're smarter than me."
Lana exhaled sharply. "Intelligence isn't a superpower, Auther. It has limits."
He dragged a hand through his hair, pacing
"Adrenaline right you can make something like that can't you?"
"Well it is a very complex translation we have to examine just how it works to even reverse engineer a natural component." Lana said vaguely though she knew nothing of it.
"Well I guess it triggers a body response that allows the body to work on overdrive without killing you so a magical counterpart would have to stimulate some sort of circulatory mirror."
"Yes but it seems like a very specific catalyst so it is probably produced in the body." Lana theorized, Auther realized Lana had no real knowledge of that level of anatomical structures.
When she noticed that he had noticed the question was posed
Then she asked, "Where did you learn this?"
Auther hesitated.
"Don't lie," she added calmly. "You've referenced thermal ionization. Reaction kinetics. Things that don't exist yet."
That word hung between them.
Yet.
Auther felt the lie closing in around his throat.
"…Part of my title," he said carefully. "The magic god thing. I… know some future concepts. Mostly alchemy. Healing."
Lana studied him for a long moment.
Then she nodded. It made sense but was not the truth at this rate of magic development this world will never peek into the deeper scientific realm.
"Give me hints only," she said. "I want to figure it out myself."
His stomach dropped. This lady was dangerous she was too smart she had figured things out no normal person should have, that's what put him at ease most of the times.
She pointed to her torso. "If adrenaline exists, it originates here. Middle torso. Central circulation. We need to dissect something human or human like maybe a rabbit to confirm."
"Why rabbits?"
"They have similar organs and brain structures just downsized."
"Did you read that in a book?"
"No in magic academy you have to dissect animals to extract alchemical ingredients during that time I discovered that most animals have the same structure and organs but some more relevant that others..." She then proceeded to describe a very crude version of classification.
"Why did you keep this all to yourself?"
"You expect people to believe that they have similarities to frogs and rabbits?"
Auther stiffened. "We don't have time. Lets get to it."
She looked at him sharply.
"Don't rush me by using her name," she said. "Trust her."
He hesitated.
"I do," he said quietly.
Lana softened—just a fraction.
"And I trust her too," she said. "That's why I'm still standing."
He turned to leave, heart pounding.
"One more thing," he said. "When did you and Viola get close?"
She smiled faintly.
"That," she said, returning to her calculations, "is a girl's secret."
Auther ran.
Behind him, the forest shook.
And far away, steel rang against something that did not care if humans survived.