"I'm tired of these motherfuckers, yo," Omar said, like we weren't still walking through a room full of said motherfuckers.
As soon as those double doors closed behind us, it was like the pressure disappeared. The suffocating weight of royalty, judgment, and unreadable stares lifted all at once. Everyone instinctively started walking toward our rooms—until I spoke up.
"Let's go to the training grounds."
They all froze.
Turned.
Omar raised a brow. "Fuck it, let's go. I gotta try out these skills at least once before I go home."
"Yeah, there's no way I'm not trying these out," Joe said, eyes bright. "After you telling me I could become a god? C'mon."
Sito just laughed. "Of course none of us can resist using our skills. It's magic."
Me and Sito took the lead, walking like we had somewhere urgent to be. Joe and Omar followed close behind. We passed a set of tall archways and emerged into the courtyard, stepping out beneath a night sky that looked too clear—too vast—to be real.
Joe and Omar both looked up, ignoring the stars and searching for something.
And there it was.
Hanging near the moon, like a crack in reality that refused to close.
The creature.
"Is that it?" Omar said. "I was expecting an eldritch horror or something—multiple limbs, a bunch of eyes, tentacles..."
"I was thinking more on the lines of true-form angels," Joe added.
"I think it's curled up in a ball, like a roly poly or something," I said.
"Anyway, that's not why we're here. Who wants to go first?"
They all looked at each other, then turned to me.
"You go first," Sito said. "Show us how to activate our skills. You're the only one who's done it before."
"Alright then, watch this."
I walked to the center of the square courtyard, softly lit by moonlight. I raised my hand and pointed toward the ground, fingers forward.
"Void Cut."
My Space mana moved. My Gravity mana stayed put—I forgot I still had the affinities split. I braced for a headache, but it never came. My space mana, swift and precise, shot up to my fingers. A small amount was released, and a gash appeared in the concrete. Then, the mana orb floated back to the center of my chest.
What? Did it work because I called out the name, or because I didn't have to split the mana to cast the skill?
Before I could spiral into thoughts, Joe spoke.
"Holy shit. It just appeared in the ground. No light, no buildup—nothing."
I grinned, happy to get a reaction that wasn't deadpan like the princess's.
"Yeah, and that's not even the coolest part."
I raised my hand, pointed my fingers straight ahead.
"Void Cut."
Five meters away, a cut appeared in the air. All black inside, not reflecting light. But none of them reacted.
"Nothing happened," Omar said.
My brow furrowed. "You don't see that cut floating in the air right there?"
Omar started walking toward me, but the cut had already closed.
"No, I don't see anything," he said. "You're seeing things."
"The shit just disappeared. You missed it."
Joe and Sito walked over too.
"Nah, I think only you can see it," Omar said.
"There's no reason to argue when I can just cast the shit again."
So I did. I raised my hand and said, "Void Cut."
In the same spot, a black cut in the air appeared.
"It wasn't there before, I swear," Omar muttered.
"I didn't see it either," Joe added.
"Me either," said Sito.
"So that's the void? Does it tell you what the void is? Where it is?" Joe asked.
"Nope, but dont stare too long" I said "It might stare back."
"I thought that was the abyss?"
I looked at him annoyance creeping into my face.
"It was a joke dumbass"
The cut disappeared again, but now I was curious. I wanted to see it from the side.
I raised my hand one last time, cast the spell, and ran to where they had been standing, trying to get a different angle. I kept my eyes on the cut. As I finally reached the side of it and looked at it straight-on, it vanished completely. No thin line in the air—just completely gone, like it never existed.
"Damn. I've never looked at it from the side before. I don't even know what I thought I'd see."
Omar, now looking more and more excited, suddenly spoke up.
"Everyone back. Five meters away. I wanna use my skills."
Joe and Sito started walking over to me.
"All I gotta do is call out the name, right?" Omar asked, looking at me.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Alright, let's see what they can do. Cryo Snap!"
The effect was fast, but not instant. A layer of frost spread across the ground—and on Omar's clothes—but other than that, nothing seemed to happen.
Omar looked fine. Not cold. Not shivering. No frost on his hair or skin—just his clothes.
"That's it?" he said, then looked at me. "You said I could be overpowered. That my powers were broken."
"This is powerful. It's not affecting you, but watch this."
I ran over to the weapon rack, grabbed a wooden spear, and ran back. I stopped just outside the frost radius and tossed the spear into the air over the ice. As soon as it landed—it shattered into frozen pieces.
They all looked stunned.
"Do you know how cold it has to be for wood to freeze and crack like that?"
As I spoke, the frost on the ground, on Omar's clothes, and on the broken spear began to disappear. The skill was wearing off. Soon everything was back to normal. The temperature matched the surroundings. No lingering effects.
"Your skill didn't seem powerful at first because you were the only one in there. The cold wasn't affecting you—but if one of us had been in there with you? We might have died."
Omar still looked disappointed. He muttered, "Still thought it would be stronger... but fuck it. Next skill."
I backed away.
"Thermal Pulse," he said.
This time, the only effect was a faint shimmer of heat waves in the air.
"Any hidden effects on this?" Omar asked, looking at me.
"I don't think so."
The effect disappeared, and Omar tried to walk back over to us—but got stuck. His clothes looked tighter.
"What the fuck, yo—I can't move."
He tried lifting his feet but couldn't. Eventually, he pulled off his leather boots and saw the soles were melted and fused to the concrete.