19. Lenna
19
Lenna
A pillow on top of Lenna’s ears made it easier to ignore the music the deliseen had started playing in an unsuccessful attempt to wake her up. She was almost succeeding to sleep through the knocks on the door of her chambers at the Organ House. Her sleepy brain and the fog that the myster from the previous night had implanted there were surely helping, and this bed. This incredible bed must have come straight from the Fifth’s source.
Lenna almost screamed when she felt the tickling sensation on her forearm as silver ink appeared. With a tremendous effort to half-open one eye, she read:
Lenna let out a growl and shouted across the room to make sure it reached the door: “Look who has learned a new way to make my existence miserable.”
“I’m not joking. How dare you be so irresponsible,” Ayla shouted through the door. Oh, she was pissed. Ayla was very well pissed and Lenna stood up with a silent laugh and a big grin.
Lenna yawned as loudly as she could and immediately heard a stomp and some more angry door-banging. “I swear if I’m late because I’ve been chasing you…” Almost boring how easy it was to piss Ayla off.
Lenna put some tight leather leggings on and a translucent shirt that left little space to imagination, and opened the door as Ayla was about to start another banging frenzy.
“About. Time,” Ayla scoffed, her lips tight in a line as she took Lenna’s hand and pulled towards the other side of the corridor. Why did she even care so much about Lenna being late, anyway?
Lenna had no clue where they were going. Hadn’t bothered to find out where she was going to spend so many hours with Jake fucking Coralt learning the only thing she cared about.
Why had the Fifth damned her so the most exciting thing of her life had ended up being something she dreaded, she was not sure. Because surely she had to have pissed the Cardinals badly enough for her panom instruction to be taught by entitled prick number one. Cardinals guide her.
Jake's stare almost pinned Lenna on the spot when they entered the massive bronze doors below a sign that read “Coronary Atrium”. She did not balk from those silver eyes, and stared right back at him.
Next to him, Gabrielle Heliba was waiting for Ayla with a friendly smile. Lenna remembered the South Ruler from a couple of visits when she was younger.
“Morning, girls,” Gabrielle's voice was soft and layered with the patience that only expertise could give.
“Morning,” the twins said.
Lenna smiled at Gabrielle, remembering how kind she had always been with her when she was little. She had been a panom for Cardinals knew how many years, so she surely knew an awful lot. “Can we not swap Panom Guidors?”
Ayla's superior smile was another punch in the gut. She surely was enjoying seeing Lenna beg for something she had. For once, being jealous of her.
“You're mine, Brachyan,” was all Jake said.
Lenna snorted. “I'm not into any of the male possession bullshit. And I'm very much not yours.” The corner of his lips twisted upwards as Lenna added, turning towards Gabrielle, “I just don't think it's fair that Ayla gets the actual powerful, wise panom Ruler as a teacher, and I just get the wannabe.”
Jake didn't even flinch, didn't even take a step, only his hands moved as Lenna felt the air leaving her lungs and whispered, Let me prove you wrong, sweet fire .
She knew he had done some sort of sound barrier, so only she could hear those words. But she could not think further, not as her legs moved against her will towards one of the closed doors in the marble hall.
A couple of seconds later, Lenna found herself breathing fast, the air given back to her. Fuck. It had all happened so fast she barely had time to tell him to fuck off before he taped the door a few times, opened it and led her inside with an “After you.”
“You're disgusting,” Lenna spat. “Genuinely. If you think choking me and forcing me to move is going to convince me, you couldn't be more wrong.”
Jake ignored her, walking towards four static stands on the other side of the big room. The high ceilings above them were covered in something that looked like galaxies. Whether they were realistic paintings, pictures or something else, Lenna couldn't tell.
Lenna continued, a few steps behind him, “And I get you just want to piss me off by proving a point about how dominating and powerful or whatever you think you are, but I am so tired of all that shit already and we haven't even started.”
Jake didn't reply, not even looking at her as he stopped in front of the first stand. They were four crystal orbs, one next to the other.
Lenna stepped between him and the orb. “Can you even be bothered to answer?” From this close distance, her voice was way louder than she intended to. But fuck him. And fuck his silence, too.
For a moment Lenna doubted if this was going to be his attitude all day. Then he said, “Answer what, exactly?” She could have sworn he was biting his bottom lip, as if trying to avoid laughing in her face.
“Are you taking the fucking piss?” she spat, baring her teeth.
Jake's eyes had dark speckles in the middle of the silver, and that he towered over Lenna didn't intimidate her one bit.
“That is the first question I hear from your pretty, foul mouth,” his eyes flickered, and Lenna was convinced that was freaking amusement shining on them. He continued, “You just ranted about what a scumbag I am and how sorry you feel for yourself. Now, if you're done, I can actually start showing you how your magic works, unless you'd rather be a martyr for a bit longer.”
Lenna inhaled sharply through her nose. She wanted to strangle him. “Go on then. The sooner we start, the sooner this will be over.”
“Fantastic,” he smiled. And damn him if he wasn't a gorgeous prick when he smiled.
Jake raised his hands and with a couple of moves, the stands disappeared and the four crystal orbs floated around them, making a square until Jake and Lenna were in the middle of it.
He faced Lenna again, “Five Cardinals, five Houses, five parts of the panom.”
He opened his hands and a representation of Thyria appeared on the marble floor underneath them, Lenna and Jake standing where Corentre was on the map, each orb floating over one petal.
He continued, “Thousands of years ago, each Cardinal ruled a unit of the panom. Each of them had a unique type of magic. The North Cardinal could Give. The South Cardinal could Take. The West Cardinal could Heal. The East Cardinal could Harm.”
“And what about the center of the panom? The circle in the middle?” Lenna asked.
He opened his hand, and the Core shone under their feet.
“The Core Cardinal was the key to keeping a balance, a harmony between the opposite magics, so the land would not collapse. She was the one who intertwined the sources of power so each panom could use the four of them, and not just the one that belonged to each House.”
Lenna's eyebrows raised, “So I can do these four magics?”
Jake nodded, chuckling at her impatience, “You will be able to, when you learn to control them.” Closing his fists, the map underneath them was gone.
“Now tell me which magic is this,” Jake closed his hand and the crystal orb in front of them was cut in half, the top half vanishing.
He made it look so easy. And the movements of his hands... The way the muscles in his inked arms flexed any time he used his hands was slightly distracting.
“Surely not Healing. Where is it gone?” Lenna couldn't see it anywhere in the room.
“I Took its half,” Jake said. “Whenever you Take, a part of your magic is uneven. Quite similar to how a weighing scale would move towards one side when given too much weight.” He walked towards another orb, putting the hand on top, “To reestablish your inner balance and find the harmony again, you must Give.” Jake opened his fist, and a silver rose appeared in the center of the orb. Beautiful.
“I see. So Taking and Giving are opposites on the harmony scale. And so are Hurting and Healing?” Lenna got closer to smell the silver rose through the opening of the orb.
“Indeed. Except Hurting and Healing need way more expertise to dominate.”
So the magic of the North and South petals had their own balance, and so did the magics of the East and West.
Jake approached the third orb. He opened his hands, and the orb became a massive snake slithering towards him. Lenna resisted the incredibly powerful urge to move the fuck away from the beast precisely at the time that Jake lifted his hand and, with two fingers, traced a line across the snake’s body. The head of the snake was cut, now rolling over the floor. Jake was still meters away from it.
“This is Harming.”
Lenna swallowed. “Would you mind letting me know the next time you are going to bring a dangerous beast to a room I’m in? Please and fucking thank you?”
Jake didn’t look at her as he walked towards the fourth and last orb, again opening his hand as he said, “Now.”
Lenna inhaled deeply, getting ready for the worst, when the orb became a small brown puppy. His rear paw was bleeding, and he was sprawled on the floor, whimpering.
Jake kneeled next to him and hovered his hand over the injured leg, tracing a circle. A circle filled with navy sparkles. His color. Except it looked as if part of a navy galaxy had penetrated the circle, and was irradiating towards the leg. “And this is Healing.”
Shortly after, the puppy barked, his tail wagging as he attempted to climb on Jake in a succession of failed attempts.
“You’re welcome,” Jake laughed as he stroked the spot between the puppy’s ears. “Try to avoid picking a fight with a snake next time.” He moved his hand, and the puppy was gone. Jake stood up and found Lenna’s wide eyes looking at him as if she had seen something as unexpected as the snake.
Clearing her throat, Lenna asked, “What happens if the harmony scale is forced too much on one side?”
“If a panom uses too much of one magic without using its opposite, the magical core of the panom becomes at risk. The least that can happen is that they lose consciousness. The worst that can happen is death.” Jake moved a finger horizontally across his neck. “Hence why the general advice is that it’s better to not force your inner harmony.”
“And your personal advice differs from that?” Lenna raised her eyebrows.
Lenna could have sworn that Jake’s stare was penetrating her own damn inner harmony, his eyes piercing her with intent. He interlaced his fingers in front of his chest.
“My personal advice is to challenge yourself. To push your own boundaries. Only you can find out what is your limit. How much is too much on your personal scale. How far you can go. What is the depth of your core. And how to stay alive even when your harmony is uneven. And if you never discover that, you will just be a mediocre panom. Like so many others.”
Lenna swallowed, keeping that advice safe to analyze later. “It seems wrong, though. There are five Houses, five Cardinals, five parts of the panom, but only four magics?"
Jake walked calmly towards her, eyeing her from bottom to top. Lenna became a bit too conscious of her completely translucent top as he slid his eyes over her chest until he met her eyes.
“There is no record of anyone alive with the Fifth Power. It's mainly a myth, at this point in history. But it existed. And it was the curse and blessing of those who gained it.” His voice was deep, as if this topic was relevant to him.
Lenna almost felt bad at the amount of times she had cursed the Fifth and every single one of the Cardinals.
“What about the... sparks?” she asked, lifted her open palm, facing upwards as she made some golden sparks appear on top, dancing with each other.
Jake nodded. “There are some fun perks that come with our gifts. Sparks and inking are the most common ones. They have the color of the panom’s inner core, and no two colors are ever the same.”
Jake walked towards the center of the room as he opened his fists again and a line of over ten orbs appeared in a neat row in front of him.
“Now let’s see what you can do,” he said. Lenna’s chest tightened, probably due to the fact that it was her first time attempting this, and at the pure challenge in his eyes.