Chapter 136: Aura Options
Kat let out a deep breath and looked away from her flame. Letting her eyes drift and her mind wander. Her first inclination when trying to think of her flame as not a flame, was to instead to picture what her demonic flame looked like, that fiery version of herself.
Though Kat also really quickly realised that was just shifting the problem. That was still giving it too much form. She needed to think of it like a free bubble of energy. Kat's tail flicked in annoyance, and though she didn't notice Grace and Skye pulled back trying to avoid the trailing embers from her tail.
*Is it so hard to just not think about it being fire?* Though Kat also felt it was similar to telling someone not to think about oranges. It would never work, and only make it harder to focus on things other than the orange.
Changing tact Kat tried to focus instead on the passing sands. The sight wasn't as breathtaking anymore as it was the very first time she laid eyes on it, but the gentle curving of the red sands stretching out as far as the eye could see was still a wonderous sight.
As Kat stared out, she could feel her control on her flame slipping. Torn between safety and progress Kat decided to err on the side of caution and keep that control. Despite this she could feel the energy in the flame dwindling and the size shrinking.
Kat lightly pushed more energy towards the flame, though perhaps that's wrong. This time she tried to gently nudge it in the direction, like the faintest brush stroke on a canvas. Trying to be as gentle as possible while still encouraging additional energy to flow to her tail.
Sadly this wasn't the answer. After hearing a gasp from Grace, Kat turned her head to make sure everything was safe, and found that her flame had more than doubled in size and blazed fiercely… though as Kat stared at it that sense of gentle calm still came through.
*Huh, guess I managed to push my aura into my flame… wait a minute idea!* Kat retracted her demonic energy and turned to face Grace and Skye. "If something horrible happens, let me know and I'll stop" said Kat calmly.
She received a nod from Grace, and the Timmy's underneath her chair. Skye gave an awkward smile and a small nod as well, and so Kat closed her eyes. Kat focused on her aura, instilling her energy into it, but instead of trying to fuel it she wanted to merge the two.
Pushing her aura out she felt it expand past her body. As she did so her control instantly faltered. Extending her aura in such a way gave her a… strange sense of everything. It wasn't that she could see, more like, she could feel herself touching everything nearby. It was a strange sensation, and not particularly useful.
*I mean… no it's pretty much useless. You just feel like your touching everything, and you can't even tell where anything is in relation to everything else because you're in contact with everything at the same time, and nothing. *
Kat stretched her aura out once again using the same method. Trying to ignore the strange sensation she pushed her aura out. As she felt it hit what she assumed to be Skye Kat's mind seem to shake at the feeling.
Kat opened her eyes and found her hand shaking. Looking up at Skye and Grace, they had concerned expressions… well Grace looked concern, Skye might just be squinting to deal with the flying bits of sand sticking to her face.
Kat recalled that strange sensation. Reaching out to Skye had felt… Kat wasn't even sure how to recall it properly. It was… like she was supposed to see everything that Skye ever was, but someone had stabbed daggers into her eyes.
Rapidly pushing that sensation into its own little box to be dealt with another time… hopefully never. *Ok time for a different approach. But perhaps not too different an approach.*
Kat focused on her demonic flame. Instead of trying to push it out of a limb as a flame, she wanted to try and move it around like her aura. Grasping the edges of her power, Kat pushed it out trying to let it seep out and hover around her as her aura naturally did.
As Kat did this the space around her started to distort. Rather than the clear space it should be, little wisps of flame would appear and vanish. To Skye and Grace it looked almost like Kat was surrounded by a field of purple stars, winking into existence for just a moment before vanishing from sight once again.
Kat took a deep breath in and out, and then tried to push her flame aura further out. As she did so she could almost feel it dissipating as it expanded. She could feel that she was pushing things. Whatever she'd managed was threatening to collapse if she took this any further.
*But then again. That's what testing is for.* Kat pushed on the edges, forcing them to expand. As she did so all the 'stars' winked out. Leaving only clear air. Skye and Grace held their breath, but then a torrent of cold air hit them like a truck.
The hot dry desert air that had rushed past them this far because of the sand skippers movement was turned icy cool. Grace and Skye let out pleasant sighs as the temperature reached a much more comfortable equilibrium
On Kat's side though, things weren't quite so great. Fuelling whatever it is she was doing was eating at her energy in a major way. *Why is this taking up so much energy? It's even worse than running full sprint, energy enhanced and freezing the snow as I run… What the heck is its problem*
Kat let the energy drop and she stopped fueling the aura. "Why'd you stop" asked Skye "That was just perfect"
Kat shook her head "Perhaps it was the right temperature, but it eats my energy like crazy. It's almost as bad as letting it completely loose to set fire to everything"
"Oh… so like, how long could you keep it up then?" asked Skye somewhat hopeful. Grace was nodding along eagerly behind her, but with a slightly more apprehensive look on her face.
"Not long Skye, maybe a few minutes tops?" said Kat
Skye's face fell hearing this but nodded in understanding "I suppose that is just how it is then. Luckily the sand skipper is absorbing most of the heat for us, otherwise it could be much worse. Maybe just use a bit to cool down the skipper every now and again so it doesn't overheat"
"Wait what?" asked Grace "The skipper can overheat?"
Skye looked confused at Grace "Didn't you see the heat absorbing enchantments on the hull?"
Grace nodded "Of course I did, they're everywhere on the thing. It's just one massive heatsink"
"Yup exactly" said Skye
"I don't follow" said Grace
Skye's mouth hung open. Looking to Kat for any possible help Kat nodded in understanding "See Kat gets it" said Skye
"Well, then one of you explain it for me" said Grace
Kat looked awkwardly at this "I don't know exactly; I'm just making my best guess from something I know that's similar. It??s just a heat sink right? As in it absorbs the heat, but it doesn't go anywhere, and if the sink is full, we are the ones that start cooking"
Skye nodded "Exactly. The magic can only take so much heat. I imagine Thyme is proficient enough for it to just stop absorbing heat, but worst-case scenario it could explode"
Grace looked at Skye wide eyed "Wait you mean to tell me this could explode at any time?"
Skye shook her head "No, no no, it's not just any time, we'd start to feel the temperature seriously spiking, and even then we'd probably still get some warning as the material itself tried to absorb some of the energy. Probably catching fire, or melting in the process, depending on what Thyme made this out of"
Grace nodded shakily not entirely reassured by this. Kat on the other hand slammed her hand into her face. *I'm an idiot* "I think I've got a decent way to keep you each cool" said Kat
"Oh?" asked Skye sceptically.
Kat shuffled carefully onto the middle seat making sure not to catch her head on the sail. Staying hunched over she stretched her tail at to the side of the skipper next to grace and charged her flame.
The side of the skipper instantly started to ice over. Pumping enough energy to freeze a good chunk of the surrounding wood Kat then retracted her tail and watched as the ice started to slowly melt.
Grace however nodded in understanding. Shifting closer to the ice she sighed in relief "Well, it isn't as nice as before but it's something I suppose"
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