967 Chapter 967 Totally Testing Testiness
As the afternoon dragged on and Kat still hadn’t seen any sign of movement from the manor house or the sky’s signalling Sue’s return Kat started to argue with herself over how valid it was she hadn’t tested out her new ability. At this point she’d even used her dream fog form a bit to test the drain. Which was still noticeable, but perhaps combat viable now. It drained at about 5% of her reserves per second but with Lily’s reserves added in it complicated matters in regards to how viable it was.
Lily’s reserves were much smaller than Kat’s, but also much closer to Kat’s in terms of regeneration. Why that was, Kat wasn’t entirely sure but it wasn’t something Kat was overly concerned about. The only concern Kat had, was that she’d tested her dream fog… while still wearing the backpack with Lily in it. Lily didn’t turn into fog of course, she just dropped straight down and Kat managed to turn back and catch her all without waking the Memphis.
It did however set back her mental attempts to argue over if it was acceptable to test her new skill. The biggest problem was that for every safety argument she made, for every reasonable excuse to use the new skill, whatever it might be… the fact of the matter was Kat essentially had a new, really fancy toy, in a box… and she was told not to open it. Just because. There was no Christmas or birthday celebration on the horizon. It was her present to do with as she wanted… and the fact she wanted to play with it was a powerful motivator.
This feeling only grew as the sun made its way across the horizon. With every excuse Kat added, the desire to test the new ability grew… as did the guilt at making up another excuse to use a power she knew hadn’t been tested. Only the fact that Lily was still asleep was able to stall Kat’s desire to test things for this long… but even that was waning.
See, there just wasn’t anyone around. Kat had seen some people moving in the city… but that was only if she looked down into the city. Up here? Where there was nothing but flat dirt and rocks for kilometres? There wasn’t any people, or buildings. Well, there was the one single building Kat still hadn’t checked out but that was it.
There was a growing voice in Kat’s mind suggesting she just leave Lily somewhere far away, but in sight and trigger her new power just to see what it was. Of course, the much more deeply ingrained part of Kat that said to keep Lily safe at all costs wasn’t having any of it. Luckily for Kat, Lily simply woke up by herself. Not that Kat realised that particular titbit. Something Kat hadn’t noticed was that Lily had started to practice not constantly broadcasting her thoughts.
She’d been… somewhat successful. Kat could always hear Lily if she was paying attention, but Lily had managed to make her own mind much quieter across the link. In this case, it meant that Kat didn’t notice Lily had awoken for a good five minutes, before pausing and looking around.
At this point, Kat could tell something was wrong… but not what. [What’re you looking for?]
*Lily?*
.....
[The one and only!]
*It’s good to see you’re awake. How was your nap.*
[Eh, same as usual, which has actually been quite good lately. My question for you though… is what the heck are you doing?]
*Right well… it’s like this…* Kat started to explain the events of the day, as well as the results of her tests so far, finishing up with her desire to test out her new ability but hesitating to do so around Lily.
[Well… normally I’d watch over you by flying upwards and then just letting you do whatever… but the dust is a bit much for me if I’m being honest. Now I’m awake though, you can just leave me somewhere nearby, maybe behind a rock or something, and then you can test things out. If I’m in danger I can just call out. I mean, my ears still work Kat, so I’m not too worried.]
*If you’re sure…*
[I am.]
Kat wasn’t… but she really didn’t want to just stick Lily into a glass bubble to protect her from the world. Kat’s next thoughts were hidden from Lily… even if she did want to share, Kat thought perhaps it’d be best not to in this case.
*It seems that I’ve become increasingly paranoid about Lily’s safety as I’ve gotten stronger and the worlds we’ve been to increase in danger as well. I don’t LIKE that fact but it’s rather obvious now it’s occurred to me. I… I just have to trust that Lily will be fine. I’m not throwing her to the wolves, I’m just letting her watch from a safe distance. This is fine.*
Kat dropped Lily off as requested then sprinted as far as she felt she could get away with. This was mostly based on how irritated Lily was feeling with the distance between them. Kat took in a deep breath to settle herself as she looked around at the blank landscape. There was nothing for at least a 500m in every direction. It was the best she was going to get.
Kat poked at that mental switch that had been taunted her for weeks… and she saw E V E R Y T H I N G.
Then a moment later that awareness had been destroyed. Kat’s mind thrashed in confusion. She hadn’t even been able to properly process the mental input from it, but now whatever had changed in her sight had been diminished a ridiculous amount. Instead of seeing… well… everything she could hardly see anything. Just… a lot of dirt. Hang on…
[Kat! Is everything alright? I can’t see you anymore!]
*I mean… maybe? I’m very confused but I don’t feel any discomfort…* Kat was starting to realise that she was no longer seeing with her eyes. Instead… she seemed to have a small awareness bubble around… around what?
It was at that point Kat realised she couldn’t feel her body anymore either. Instead, she could feel parts of herself connected to… bits of water? *What the heck is going on? Hmm… seems safe enough. Maybe I should get back to you and test where you can see me?* Kat tried to cancel the effect but got the mental equivalent of an ‘error’ message. *Well that’s not good.*
[Kat?]
*I’m… well not fine… or well… I can’t seem to undo whatever I just did but I’m not in pain or anything. I can… hmm… hard to describe. I can see all around me, and I’m like… attached? Attached to bits of water and all in all I’m just very confused. Just… give me a bit and I’ll try and undo whatever it is I’ve done.*
Kat spread her awareness properly throughout her ‘body’ and found that she was now a number of water droplets. Most of which were slowly sinking into the earth. Kat flexed her will and the water froze in place. Taking stock… Kat still didn’t really know what to do about her… situation.
She could feel all the parts of her even as they spread out. Kat could also see from every single water droplet but it seemed that it was a small bubble around each droplet, a bubble that increased based on the size of the water clump. Kat checked her demonic energy and it seemed to be filling back up rapidly… but had taken a big hit.
*Ok… so was it triggering the transformation that caused the drop? Or freezing the water in place? Or falling apart? Assuming that’s what happened when I could see so much?* Kat of course received no answers so she got to work on what she DID know. Kat reached out to all the water and pulled it towards the biggest puddle.
Kat assumed the water would slowly trickle its way over… instead all the disparate pieces of her rushed towards the signalled location and quickly become a large puddle. Kat’s vision expanded and she could already feel a headache coming on. The bubble just gave too much awareness. Still… she was all together now. So… Kat pushed the mental trigger and… nothing happened.
Grumbling mentally Kat pondered what could be wrong. She tried poking around the trigger to get a sense of what the issue was… but that didn’t do anything. *D.E.M.O.N.S? Suggestions?*
User Kat likely needs to be in roughly the correct shape for the transformation.
*I guess that makes sense? Sort of?*
[Yeah well it better. I’m not exactly happy with you right now.]
*I took a bunch of precautions and nobody got hurt!*
[Kat… you’re a puddle of water I can’t even see right now. Pretty sure you count as ‘people’.]
*I’m not HURT though. Just… a puddle for the moment…*
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m