Chapter 307: Potential Unsealed
The next evening, the fourth floor of the Student Council building was empty.
Amara had cleared the level under the excuse of a classified audit. One of the council’s reinforced training rooms was locked from the inside, and the recording runes along the ceiling were dark.
She stood in the center of the room wearing a grey training tank and loose trousers. Her uniform jacket and wire-rimmed glasses rested on a metal bench nearby.
Arthur leaned against the wall near the door, his arms crossed.
Amara held the vial. The liquid inside shifted endlessly between deep blue, bright gold, and rich violet. She did not hesitate this time. She pulled the cork, raised the glass to her lips, and swallowed the Elixir of Potential in a single motion.
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then the vial slipped from Amara’s fingers and shattered across the tiles.
She folded forward with a sharp gasp, both hands pressing against her chest. Heat tore through her body, followed by a rush of mana so sudden that she could no longer contain it.
"Breathe," Arthur said.
Amara tried, but the breath caught halfway into her chest.
The tiles cracked beneath her knees.
Frost burst from the broken lines and raced across the floor.
It climbed the walls, swallowed the legs of the metal bench, and spread toward the locked doors.
The lamps overhead flickered once before bursting. The spreading ice glowed pale blue as Amara’s magic poured out of control.
She dropped onto her hands, fingers scraping uselessly against the frozen tiles.
"Arthur—"
The rest of his name vanished into a strangled cry.
Arthur moved.
The cold bit through his jacket as he crossed the frozen floor. Fire mana warmed his skin beneath the fabric.
He dropped beside Amara and caught her shoulders.
"Look at me."
Her storm-grey eyes found him for less than a second before another wave of pain bent her forward.
Arthur pulled her against his chest.
Her hands twisted into his jacket, nails digging through the fabric.
Arthur wrapped one arm around her back and placed the other behind her head.
"Follow my breathing," he said.
Amara’s breaths remained short and broken.
Arthur counted each one for her.
"In."
She dragged in a breath.
"Out."
Frost crawled over his sleeves, but the fire mana beneath his skin kept the cold from locking his arms.
"Again."
Her breathing gradually matched his.
The frost stopped climbing the walls. A few seconds later, the wild rush of ice began to weaken.
Amara sagged against him.
Arthur stayed where he was until her grip on his jacket loosened.
Amara eventually lifted her head and looked around.
The room was ruined. Frost covered the walls, one lamp hung broken from the ceiling, and the metal bench had been frozen to the floor.
She closed her eyes and reached for her mana.
Her breath caught.
There was more than before. Far more.
But it answered too quickly, surging before she could properly shape it.
A fresh sheet of ice spread beneath her without warning.
Amara opened her eyes.
"I can feel the difference."
"Can you control it?" Arthur asked.
She looked down at the ice covering both of their legs.
"Apparently not."
Amara looked down at her hands.
"I spent years trying to increase my reserves one miserable fraction at a time," she said. "Now I have more mana than I know what to do with."
"That was the idea."
"You could have warned me it would feel like being boiled and frozen at the same time."
"I told you it would hurt."
"That was an extremely incomplete warning."
Arthur glanced around the ruined room. "You still drank it."
Amara went quiet.
"Yes," she said. "I did."
His jacket was stiff with frost and torn where her fingers had gripped it.
"You stayed," Amara whispered.
"I told you I’d stop you from flooding the building," Arthur replied.
His arms loosened around her.
Amara remained against his chest.
"Thank you," she said.
Arthur looked past her at the frozen room.
"Your classified audit has been very destructive."
Amara kept her forehead against his shoulder. "It uncovered several weaknesses."
"Mostly in the furniture."
"Put it in your report."
Arthur laughed quietly.
Amara finally pulled back and tried to stand. Her knees gave way almost immediately.
Arthur caught her beneath the arms.
"Careful."
"I am fine."
"You’re hanging from my hands."
"Temporarily."
He helped her onto the least-frozen end of the bench.
Amara lifted one hand and tried to form a small shard above her palm.
A block of ice the size of her head appeared instead and crashed onto the floor.
Arthur examined it.
"Very subtle."
"Be quiet."
"There you are."
Amara glared at him, but there was little strength behind it.
She looked down at her trembling hand.
"Tomorrow evening, you will help me control this."
"We start small," Arthur said. "No combat spells. No trying to prove the potion worked."
Amara’s expression sharpened. "I am not reckless."
Arthur looked deliberately at the frozen walls.
"The room disagrees."
"The room was poorly prepared."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "That sounded almost polite."
"Leave before I revise our agreement."
Arthur pulled her jacket free from the frozen bench. The fabric crackled stiffly in his hands.
He shook off what ice he could and placed the jacket around her shoulders before handing over her glasses.
"Get some sleep, Vice President."
Amara slid the glasses on and tried to stand again.
Her legs trembled.
Arthur caught her elbow before she could fall.
"I can walk," she said.
"You’ve made a convincing argument."
"There is a recovery room through that door."
She pointed toward a narrow door behind the training area.
Arthur helped her across the frozen floor. Amara leaned on him reluctantly at first, then more heavily when another wave of exhaustion passed through her.
The recovery room contained a narrow bed, a washbasin, and an emergency heater. Arthur activated the heater before helping her sit.
"You are not testing the new power again tonight," he said.
"That sounded like an order."
"A very annoying one."
Amara gave him a tired glare.
Arthur headed for the door.
"Arthur."
He looked back.
Amara sat on the edge of the bed with her jacket wrapped around her shoulders and her hands still trembling slightly.
"Be here tomorrow."
This time, her voice did not shake.
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